Unleashed
by Tora-chan3
Summary: Something was left over from the creating of the clow cards. I'm still kinda new at this whole writing fan fics and makeing sure they don't wind up in some random insanity, so please, no flames.
1. Toratsuki

Tora-chan: Hey guys. I didn't come up with Card captor Sakura and therefore I don't own anything. I have no money; so suing me is probably not a good idea. I did make up Toratsuki (or Tiger in English) I will let you know ahead of time, I am fairly knew at this writing fan fictions on the net, so work with me here. There is a bit of Japanese in this fic so I have translations in so anyone who hasn't the foggiest idea of what is written will understand. (Kinda like subtitles) Oh well. See ya! Oh, before I go, there are parts of this fic that Yaoi or Yuri fans might get ideas from. (If I've even spelt that right) There is no intentional Porn or sex implication in this! I know after watching a lot of anime we tend to think the worst of things, but I intend this to be as clean as it gets! No one in this is gay or perverted so let's get our minds out of the gutters could we? You know, just for this one? Please? Sorry.  
  
Chapter 1: Toratsuki  
  
There is a large space between destiny and fate. Everything on this earth has a beginning and an end. However, occasionally when it's someone's time there comes an entity that saves him or her from all eternity and the chains of life and death. Sometimes, and only sometimes, comes one who stalls time, and shatters fate like a mirror of ice into the red-hot flames of the abyss.  
  
Rain is often associated with all that is miserable and dank. This rain was no different. It was not a driving rain, though. More of the soft drizzle that made it self useless and more of a burden then anything else. Yue was not happy at all, and thus, the rain explained to the world his own inner misery. His blush-white wings were not use to having all the water on them, alas, if he had stayed back in the hollow tree like he had thought to not two hours ago this may not have occurred to him. Damnit! The drizzle slackened a bit as he flew, but this made him no happier. The greys of the night sky dappled his eyes with different light then that of a full moon that he would much rather have seen should it have been a clear night. This, of course was all a front for his usual solemn mood, but it was as it was and there was no denying the way he felt. After Clow had past on, he was quite lonely. Keroberose was right about one thing, when someone passes, it's always sad for those they leave behind. Currently, Yue was flying over a small village square that bordered a fair sized wooded area. He disliked humans. What senseless creatures they were. Only Clow was different. But then, how could he hate Clow-sama? His creator. His master. His father, if you will. Nevertheless, these scatter-brained mortals seemed to not care about the finer things of life like the moon or the stars. Not once had they spent a night glancing up at the gorgeous moon and all the dappling stars around it. Instead they blocked it out with their lights and machines. Humph, why waste a simply glorious night on them? Something was about to change Yue's mind about these creatures, but he didn't know it.  
  
Just as he passed over a few trees, the guardian of the moon heard a pair of humans on the ground going after something. What were they up to? Flying lower, Yue went to have a look at the struggle that went on below him. They were beating on something. What was that? An animal perhaps? No, a human child.  
  
Kicking it to the cement, the little girl collapsed in a heap of blood and gravel. Yue cocked an eyebrow. What was this all about? Never mind. This was not his problem. As he began to fly away, something changed his mind.  
  
"Is it dead?"  
  
"No. Let's make sure it never comes back, what a little wretch."  
  
"Look at it. Who could ever love such a horrid little thing?"  
  
Horrid? Was that what they called it? Just a child. What could it possibly have done? Yue turned around and flew toward the ground.  
  
"What the-? Ahhhhh!" The two men screamed and ran as they saw the guardian fly strait at them. Landing, Yue turned his head and looked at the bleeding mess on the ground. Walking over to the child, he saw her sides heave and fall with the rush of air. This thing was so tiny, so small. What had she done? Her eyes were brimmed with blood, grit and tears. Funny. They didn't move, the eyes. Yue crouched down beside her and brushed a few strands of musty brown hair away from her face to get a better look at those eyes. They were different then any eyes he had ever seen. The colours were a light icy-lavender and that made her skin look so pale and bleak. The blood trickled over her face and Yue brushed a bit away from her. She whimpered a bit at his touch. Afraid! She was afraid of him. But why? Perhaps she didn't know he had tried to save her. Perhaps she didn't like the look f his wings or the fact that his hair was a white as his feathers. Fear was a natural emotion shown by mortals. This child was no different. The rain pattered and ambled down her face. Covering her with his wings, he picked her up carefully. The puppy-noises continued and Yue grumbled as he took off into the air. This was strange, even for him. Why was he getting involved in this? The girl looked up at his with the hooded icy eyes. The rainwater was mixing with her tears causing salty moisture to run down her face like ice.  
  
"H-help me."  
  
That was all she could say. Perhaps this was best. The little one was not even awake. As the fields and trees got further and further away from them, Yue wrapped the little girl in his arms so as not to drop her. This was a very absurd thing for him to do, caring for a human this way. But then, this child was far from a human, and it looked so lonely too. In a way, it seemed to be like him, unloved or without someone to care for it. Master less. 


	2. The Tree

Chapter 2: The Tree  
  
Trees are tall standings that humans destroy. They call out in the night, but men cannot hear or understand their pain. Some will listen to their moaning as they suffer alone. Their leaves tremble toward their fait and so as we do. There is always new life to give, and so it is given to save those who seek or search for themselves between the woods.  
  
Yue landed outside an old tree near Clow's house. The old wood had been struck by lightning and the timber was now petrified. The inside was like rock and this made for a good shelter. All the leaves from the tree had fallen off and it was safe to say that this giant peace of the woods was dead. Still, it was better then being out in the rain. Inside there was a little space for Yue to sleep and some books Clow had left that he had taken for reading when he got bored. There was a table, but not for eating at. Just for sitting around. There were a few stools to sit at but other then that he was fine on his own. Now that he was out from the Clow book, Yue did mostly sleeping.  
  
Setting the little one down on a pile of leaves and feathers, Yue made sure she was not going to leave or wander off. He was slightly fond of the little child, and besides, wandering off was dangerous.  
  
"Stay here. I will return."  
  
Leaving the safety of the tree, he walked off to Clow's old mansion to see what he could salvage and use to help this little thing. Walking into the pantries, he found some bread and milk that still hadn't gone bad. Amazing how cold it could get out here. The milk was still good enough to drink. There were some berries from the garden too. This was good. He didn't need to eat, but this child did. Oh well.  
  
Returning to the tree, Yue found her still laying there. The body heaved and sighed in pain. Yue walked a little faster now. The blood had got all over the leaves and bed. The sight was pitiful, and Yue knew it. As he got closer the whimpering began. Didn't she know he wasn't going to hurt her?  
  
"Hush. I won't hurt you."  
  
No good. The puppy-noises continued. Pulling out a peace of the bread, Yue dunked it in the milk so that it would be easier to chew. Offering it to the girl, she seemed to attempt to escape his reach when his hand got nearer with the bread.  
  
"Take it."  
  
Whimpering ensued, but he kept firm and did not change his offer.  
  
"Take it."  
  
This time the whimpering slowed and diminished as the girl sat up a bit more and reached edgily for the milk-dripping bread. Tiny scraped fingers enclosed the food in her hands and after some examination she decide what the stranger had given her was indeed edible. Stuffing it into her mouth greedily, the little thing was hardly able to keep still as Yue began to clean off the cuts and scrapes on her arms and face.  
  
"Hold still." He tried to tell her. But it was futile. The more Yue attempted to assess the problem the more she would wriggle and try to move away. What was worse was that the milk that was on the bread was seeping out of her mouth and dribbling down her face. This caused some of it to get in the way of the bandaging process. Soon she stopped for a moment's hesitation to be sure she hadn't dropped any crumbs and then began to lick her fingers clean of any milk traces that were left. A bit of colour had begun to return to her face now and that meant that she was recovering.  
  
"So, do you have any family?"  
  
The girl shook her head.  
  
"Do you have a home?"  
  
Still she shook her head.  
  
"Do you even have a name?"  
  
More shaking of the head.  
  
This was getting nowhere fast. Yue sighed. This was going to be a long night.  
  
"Well, I suppose you need a name then, don't you?"  
  
Nodding.  
  
"Hmmm, Toratsuki?"  
  
More nodding ensued.  
  
"Tiger moon. Interesting."  
  
The little thing squirmed a bit as Yue bandaged a part of her cheek. Milk still drizzled and escaped her lips as she fidgeted. Sighing, Yue held his palm up and put her under a trance.  
  
"Be still in your sleep, child. Waken in two day's time when my spell does break, and only then. Sleep, sleep and think of better things."  
  
With the spell heavy on her eyelids, Toratsuki collapsed in a little heap on the mound of leaves and feathers. Yue rubbed his temples impatiently. This would be a lot more work then he had thought. As the little one slept, he continued to mend her broken body and wounds. It was a lot better going without her fidgeting and moving around. Now he was able to concentrate on cleaning out the cuts and bandaging them properly without a fuss. After the work was done, he went off to get his own rest, but first he used his powers to give Toratsuki some dreams. A small butterfly appeared in his hand and he rested the delicate creature-spell on her brow, the wings rustled a bit and then the thing dissolved into her body.  
  
"Now, dream and wake not until two days time. Then and only will you awaken unto thee." 


	3. Trouble in Two Days

Chapter 3: Trouble in Two Days  
  
Life has its way and plays off our harts like a sea of eternal love or lust. Trouble, tribulation and strife, all part of this and so should be assessed. What we do depends on longing and riddles. Decide for your self who you are, lest you forget yourself altogether.  
  
Two days passed easily. The morning of the second day, the small child woke up and flexed her arms in comfort and drowsiness. Yue was not in the tree- cave, but outside on the roof of the mansion. Toratsuki walked out of the tree and started to wander around the woods. In this day and age, there was not a lot of forest left around Clow's house, so with every knave step the girl took it would lead her closer to the town. Walking into the market, the small child let her tail sway side to side in a pleasurable motion that would be found in cats. A few children would point as she plodded on and their mother's would turn their faces away. Just then, Toratsuki saw something that snapped her into reality of her hunger and the fact that within the time of two days she had had only bred and milk. The bread looked so good from the cart and she was so desperately hungry. In her naïve, blind, youthful stupidity, she took a peace of the bread and started to eat. It was sooo good! Nice and fresh from the oven and there was nothing better in the morning. However, as most of the stories go, crime and punishment rules eternal here. A blur of straw and wood whizzed past the child's face as it collided with the side of her skull. The broom sent Toratsuki flying across the cobblestone street and skidding across the pavement. All hunger forgotten, the child sat up and rubbed her aching head. Tears brimmed in her eyes. What had she done wrong? The woman with the broom stood there getting ready for another go.  
  
"Little tramp! Setting your filthy teeth into MY bread, are you?"  
  
The little girl didn't answer and soon the ladies husband was coming at the child.  
  
"Thief! Did you take my wife's bread? Answer me, rat!"  
  
Another quick blow was delivered and sent the girl flying again.  
  
Yue was arriving back now when he found the tracks that had been maid in the damp earth that lead away from the tree-cave and into the town. Without a word he followed the tracks. As he went, Yue stopped for a moments thought; he couldn't go into a town like this. People would know that he existed and then they would never leave him in peace. No, it would be unwise to disturb them. However.there was someone who could go in unnoticed. Tsukishirou Yukito.  
  
The coffee-brown eyes picked up the tracks well enough from behind the rims of the glasses. What he was doing there, Yukito was unsure of. It was the first time he had woken up in a while. His grand parents must have been away on another trip or something, but he couldn't figure out why he was in the woods. A little voice in the back of his head pushed him onward toward the village, where already he could hear some sort of kafuffle. Once he entered into the town he saw it, a man going after a small girl who looked like she had suffered a few beatings already.  
  
"Thief! I'll teach you to steal my bread!"  
  
The crowd jeered and yelled their approval.  
  
"Go Himiji! Teach that little rat a lesion!"  
  
"Run it through!"  
  
"Give it a good swat upside the head!"  
  
Just as the broom in the man's hands began to swing toward the child's head for the second time that day, Yukito took off in a sprint and snatched the girl out of the way before the straw could strike again. Colliding with the pavement, the boy got up and adjusted his glasses.  
  
"Young man, what are you doing? That little girl is a thief! She stole some bread from my cart and I have my right to punish her!" The man bellowed in his angry and stern voice.  
  
"If she was that hungry to steal, maybe she deserved the bread." Tsukishirou said calmly holding the trembling little body close to him self. Blood oozed from her nose and mouth and the girl sniffed in pain forcing back tears.  
  
"Are you suggesting that we were in the wrong to teach her this lesion?"  
  
The crowd grew uneasy. They murmured to one another in hushed voices.  
  
"No, I'm saying you should have let her keep the bread." Yukito said with his usual kindly smile. "I need to go. Thank you for helping me find this girl." Bowing to the man in respect, Tsukishirou paid the man for the bread and turned to leave. No one stopped the boy as he walked off. There was nothing more that could have been done.  
  
As they re-entered the woods, Toratsuki started to shiver in fear.  
  
"Don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Tsukishirou Yukito, and I'm going to look after you until we get you something to eat and to your house. " The same smile was sent to the girl as had been sent to the man. The little girl calmed down a bit and pressed herself into his shirt. Soon, Yukito sat her down on a fallen log and took a look at her face.  
  
"Himm. Looks like you had a bit of a rough time, huh?"  
  
Nodding.  
  
"Do you have a name?"  
  
"Toratsuki."  
  
"Nice. I like it. So, did you really take that man's bread?"  
  
The little thing fidgeted and swayed side to side in shame. She nodded and looked away.  
  
"Stealing is wrong, you know. I bet your mom and dad would be upset if they caught you stealing."  
  
"I don't gots a mom an' dad."  
  
Yukito looked sadly at her. "That's okay. I don't have some ether," Then trying to change the topic, "are you hungry? I have some food with me. I always carry a snack or two with me just in case I get hungry."  
  
Pulling out a bag from his knapsack that was flung over his shoulder, Yukito produced a few rice balls and some bread of his own. Within seconds, the food was gone between them. They both had realized their hunger and now the little girl was waiting swinging her legs back and forth impatiently as she sat on the log while Yukito cleaned off her cuts and gave her some Kleenex to stop the bleeding and allow the blood to clot. Soon the boy stood back to admire his handy work.  
  
"There now, that's a bit better. So.where do you live? I'll walk you home, okay?"  
  
Seeing no problem with this, and preferring to walk with someone she trusted rather then alone with those villagers not too far away, Toratsuki nodded and they were off. Soon the tree was in sight and the child pointed it out.  
  
"Over there."  
  
"That's your house?" This seemed very bizarre to Yukito, having a little girl who was only about five or so alone in a tree house? Oh well, stranger things had happened right? Walking in, the boy looked around.  
  
"Do you know when who ever is looking after you is coming back?"  
  
The little girl shook her head. She didn't even know his name. Or had she just forgotten it? Yukito sat down and the table and decided to stay with the girl until who ever it was who was her guardian returned. The little girl climbed up on a stool beside him. She cocked her head to the side and leaned over to point at his glasses.  
  
"What's that?" Her little fingers pointed awkwardly at the glasses that perched gingerly on the bridge of Yukito's nose.  
  
"What, these? Oh these are my glasses." He said as he carefully took then off and passed them to the little girl. For a moment he was blind and then his eyes attempted to focus. Not a good job, things were still fuzzy, but they weren't as bad. Toratsuki took them from the boy and looked them over. She held them up to her face and tried to see through them. No good. They weren't made to suit her eyes. Handing the glasses back to the boy, Yukito put them on and enjoyed his sight.  
  
"I feel like I've been here before. Do you ever get that feeling?"  
  
Nodding the girl piped up, "I feel like I've been here before. I was here last night."  
  
Yukito sighed, "That's not what I mean. I feel like I've been here before and yet I know that I've never seen this place before in my life. You know what I'm trying to say?"  
  
The girl shook her head causing the brown hair to sway to and for.  
  
Yukito sighed. This kid was hopeless. She just smiled clumsily back at him.  
  
"Who is it that's looking after you?"  
  
"A man with big wings and long hair with blue and white clothes. He's really tall, and has pretty eyes."  
  
The boy nodded and contemplated a while on the thoughts. Strange, he thought he had seen someone like that in a dream. Something about moonlight.the light of a full moon was it? Feathers, white wings like snow. There was a snow all around, and darkness, lot's of darkness. The full body and face of the person was not visible, but ever now and then there was a look at the soft, icy-lavender eyes. Tsukishirou sighed and tried to clear his thoughts a bit. What were a few simple dreams to tell him? He had his own things to think about.  
  
"So.is he your brother or something?"  
  
"No, I has no brother."  
  
"I see. So.who is he?"  
  
"I dunno. He saved my life."  
  
"How?"  
  
"I can't remember. Just two men came and tried to kill me."  
  
Yukito had nothing to say to this. What was there to say in the long run?  
  
"So how long have you known him?"  
  
"A while. But you smell like him."  
  
"What? That's a little strange."  
  
"No, you smell like him, your scent is all over your jacket."  
  
Tsukishirou looked at his coat and then at the girl. She was strange, how could she use her nose to connect a guy he had never met to himself? This was rather distressing. He had seen this person, or someone like it, in a dream and now he was connected to him? This girl must have taken quite a blow to the head with that broom, Yukito thought.  
  
"I'm bored." The little girl wined.  
  
"Oh, okay, what do you want to do?"  
  
"Play with me, Tsukishirou -san! Play with me!"  
  
"What do you want to do?" He asked again.  
  
This was a bit thought provoking for Toratsuki. She hadn't played with someone in a while and so was not sure of what she wanted to do. Yukito could see her struggling and decided to interfere.  
  
"Do you know how to make origami cranes and other animals?"  
  
"Origami? What's that?""  
  
Yukito had struck a curiosity nerve. This was a good thing to keep in mind. If he could keep her active until this guy got back, then she could at least have something to do. Pulling out some coloured paper from his bag he began to show the interested child how to fold and crease the paper to make little animals or objects like boxes and such.  
  
"Do you have everything in that bag?" Toratsuki asked as she started to poke through it.  
  
"No, just a lot of stuff." Yukito replied with a smile.  
  
The little girl kept on going through it like a puppy or a mouse tossing thing on the floor as she tried to find something to play with or keep herself occupied with. A compass was looked at and kept her busy for about two minutes and then it joined a book, some papers, a pencil, pen and pare of gloves.  
  
"Nothing else in there?" Yukito asked.  
  
"Nope, nothing else." The little child flopped down and soon went back to the origami. After a short time of correcting the little thing on how to fold the paper properly, the child got the hang of it and no sooner then there was a small zoo of animals. Her favourite was the tigers that stood on their four paper legs. They didn't have stripes like real tigers, but that was as close as it was getting. It was getting dark when Yukito and Toratsuki stopped for a brake.  
  
"Are you sure this friend of yours is coming back?" The boy asked in a bit of disbelief.  
  
"He'll be back." The girl never wavered from this stance. She seemed willing to wait for him no matter how long it would take. Strange though, how this all worked out. Yukito thought. A yawn escaped the jaws of the little one and not too long after she walked deeper into the tree-cave and to the bed of leaves and feathers to curl up into a tight ball.  
  
The boy smiled and walked over to her. Laying his jacket over her like a blanket he returned to the table to get a stool.  
  
"I'll stay till your friend gets back, kay?"  
  
"You smell like him."  
  
Again with the smell concept. This was getting confusing and slightly annoying.  
  
"It's almost like he's right here."  
  
Yukito was about to say something when Yue awoke and transformed right in front of the little girl.  
  
"You have a keen nose for magic, little one."  
  
Toratsuki didn't say a word; she was too tired to say anything.  
  
The years past like this. Yue looked after the little girl and taught her everything he knew about life and Clow and how to keep out of trouble. It was near Toratsuki's sixth birthday and the beginning of her first year of school that all this changed and that Yue would leave her side. 


	4. Himuri Means Friendship

Chapter 4: Himuri Means Friendship  
  
Everyone lives in their own little globe, their own world or dimension. Sometimes people are hardened by their life alone in their world. Their harts become like stone and they loose all contact with anyone outside that world. Then, someone, and it is just that, a person will walk in and break the stone away to expose the real hart for what it really is..that person is called a friend.  
  
The night before her first day of first grade Yue used his powers to put the little girl to sleep one last time. Placing upon her eyelids a spell that would give her a dream with the instructions on witch she would live by.  
  
"Listen to me carefully, Toratsuki. You are now Matsumoto Toratsuki; you have a mother and father like everyone else. They are always on business trips and they are rarely home. When you wake up you will find your new school uniform and a lunch already made. You live at 231 Umi Street in a big white house at the corner near the forest; your phone number is 746- 5932. There you have a living room, bathroom, bedroom, a kitchen, a garden and a bedroom for your supposed parents. When you wake up, you will be attending Sasukai public school and there will be directions to this place. I will call for you in a second dream, so be ready. I will send for you so be ready for me. When you wake up you will remember none of this, not one day will be relevant. You will not know my name or Yukito's ether. The last thing I can do for you is to hide your tail and eyes so that no one will ever see them again. I have placed an illusion and you will not remember having them. Now, sleep." As her eyes closed, Yue gave her a portion of his power. Just enough to cast the illusion over her, in doing so the moon- centred magic made a physical appearance of wings that looked like Yue's. A blue crescent moon symbol was placed on Toratsuki's forehead as a result of Yue's magic. The symbol looked like a tattoo, but it reeked of moon-centred magic. The work was done. Yue left the house behind and the little girl sleeping in her dreams.  
  
The next morning, Toratsuki woke up in a big bedroom with the sunlight poring in the window. Stepping out of bed, the girl stretched and walked down stars into the kitchen. The light pooling into the room leavening a bit of a light bubbly look to everything made the child rub her eyes as they adjusted. There on the table was the uniform for her new school. Sighing Toratsuki picked it and walked back up to her room. Taking off her old clothes, she looked herself over as if to be counting her self to see if everything was there. Five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot, one nose, one mouth, two eyes, yes everything was in check. So why did she feel so out of place? Shrugging and pulling her uniform on, the little girl sighed and packed up her school bag. Without thinking, she walked out the door without stopping for breakfast and instead snatched a few books off a shelf. The streets were filed with children form the same school that Toratsuki had never seen before. They laughed and giggled between each other as they walked on. Toratsuki trudged on and stared at the pavement. What was missing? There was a bit much to think about, and this was just one of the things. She was lonely. The big house gave her the chills and she sensed that there was something missing from it, as if someone she had once loved had moved away from her and left her soul all alone. The walk was only fifteen minutes away form the school, but it seemed longer without someone to walk with. There was a crowd of boys that rushed past her and bumped into her knocking the few books that were in her hands to the ground.  
  
"Gomen!" sorry they yelled, but didn't stop.  
  
"Baka!" Idiot! Knelling down to pick up her fallen books, Toratsuki brushed her hair out of her face and tried to drown her feelings of detest and hatred for the jerks.  
  
"Brats." The words slipped from her mouth like a stream as she picked up the last book from the dusty pavement. As she clutched the book to her breast as if it where some family treasure. Continuing on her way it seemed to be colder then she remembered.  
  
The school was large and a lot cooler then the air outside where she stood. The children ran around in their uniforms. The boys wore black jackets with white t-shirts underneath, black pants and shoes and black shoes. The crest the school was bright yellow and gold that stood out like a neon sign in the darkness that was their tops. The girls had black shirts with their own crest of the school. There where little red stripes on the cuffs like the boy's shirts and they had their own blouse underneath. They had white skirts and black socks to go with the equally black shoes. All the students had backpacks that were as black as the shirts and most of the uniforms. The black made her skin look so pale and a lot more pathetic then she was. Walking through the playground, Toratsuki made her way to the main office.  
  
"You must be new here." Said the lady at the front.  
  
"Yes ma'm."  
  
"Very well, come with me."  
  
Toratsuki walked along with the lady to a filing cabinet and soon the girl watched as a piece of paper was pulled out that had her name, age, height, blood type and just about anything else a school could possibly have on a student.  
  
"You're in class B-1, with Mr. Fujimaki. I think you'll be able to find it. Just follow the main hall and turn right then it's the first door to the left, okay?"  
  
"Thank you."  
  
The lady went back to her seat and started back at her task of filing papers on other students in their proper places. Toratsuki sighed and walked out the door and headed down the long hall, still clutching the books to her chest tightly. No one was in the halls and all that could be heard by mortal ears was the taping of her shoes on the tiled floor. As she walked something caught her eye. A large paining of a few doves taking flight into a warm summer sky forced her to stop and look. Toratsuki stared as images broke through Yue's spell and drifted like feathers in an open breeze.  
  
Wings.  
  
Moon on icy waters.  
  
White feathers.  
  
Eyes.  
  
Those eyes burned in her mind like frozen icicles stabbing deeper into her chest. A lump caught in her throat caused her to breath deeply to regain the air she needed to stay conscious. It was like the blood that ran over the icicles froze and trickled down her brow in cold sheets of sweat. Eyes captivated on the painting there was noting else but the sound of her racing hart.  
  
Wings.  
  
A crescent moon on pale blue water.  
  
Cat-like eyes.  
  
A tree.  
  
What was all this that plagued her so? A dream? No! It was too real, all too real to be just that. Just a dream. Her hart leapt into her throat and this caused her to blink a bit and force it down. Just as she was working on it, a hand found its way through space to her quivering shoulder. The five digits forced her out of the dream and made her skin leap into itself again.  
  
"Daijoubu desu ka?" Are you all right?  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Toratsuki found herself staring at two, large, green eyes. The girl regarded her as if she were a small child, when in truth; they were close to the same height.  
  
"I said, are you alright?"  
  
The question repeated again only made the answer harder to say. 'Yes'. This 'yes I'm alright' was caught in her throat and now Toratsuki choked on the words themselves.  
  
"Are you gonna throw up or something? You want me to call the school nurse?"  
  
"Na-nani?" Wh-what? These words so clumsy were terrible and large, as if to take up her entire mouth with them and this was hard for her to speak around them.  
  
"Hello? Daijoubu desu ka?" Are you all right?  
  
Toratsuki couldn't control what happened next. Her feet just took her away without any words between them. Running down the hall was almost like she was flying. The girl was left standing back at the painting confused and a little dazed.  
  
How could she run like that? How could she have just run? Leaving that kid to just stand there sounded so cruel, but it's what she had done wasn't it? Now that she was running, there was no stopping her! The only thing she could do to cease racing headlong down the corridor was to run into something. Luckily, as she turned the right corner, that is exactly what happened. Two bodies collided, but the first one seemed to recover faster then the little girl. Falling backward with the recoil, Toratsuki found herself suspended in space between the ground and air.  
  
A tail  
  
She wanted to scram as she anticipated the landing, but just as this happened a hand whipped out and snatched at her arm and pulled her into the safety of the arms as they wrapped around her shoulders to balance the girl.  
  
"Are you okay?" The glasses seemed to try to escape the bridge of the man's nose as they slid down has soft face. His whit shirt was freshly ironed and the blue-black tie was a little loose around his neck so it made him look a bit rugged and more of a street character then a teacher like she assumed him to be. The black pants were nicely pressed too. His black hair was a little out of place, just like him, it seemed. But none of this mattered really.  
  
"G-gomen nasai." I'm sorry Her voice seemed to be but a tiny squeak as she stuttered. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why hadn't she been looking where she was going? Why hadn't she taken control of her feet? Why had she choked when the girl asked her if she was going to be sick? Was she going to be sick now?  
  
"You must be new here."  
  
Twice! Twice today someone had said those exact words.  
  
"Yes, sir." Was that her voice? It seemed to belong to another person, someone she didn't know. It was so small and frightened.  
  
"What's your name?" The tall man asked as he used his index finger to push his glasses delicately back up his nose and nearer to his eyes where they would be more use by far.  
  
"Matsumoto Toratsuki." This time, the voice was stronger. At least she could answer this question properly, unlike before.  
  
"I see, right, well then Matsumoto-chan. Do you know which class your in?"  
  
"B-1, sir."  
  
"Alright then, follow me. The bell is about to ring." The man led her down the hall and soon was to stop in front of a door that read 'B-1'. That was embarrassing. The door was only nine meters away from where she had run into the teacher.  
  
"You must really have been scared to not have noticed that your class was two doors down."  
  
Nodding stupidly, Toratsuki tried not to look him in the eye.  
  
"Well, Matsumoto-chan, I'm Aki Himino" My classroom is just down the hall and I hope you'll drop by if you need anything. I teach a math class so if you have any questions on Pythagorean theorem or the Metric scale just drop on by and I'll be ready to help you out, kay?" The man winked kindly at her and Toratsuki nodded dumbly for a minute.  
  
"Well, I'll see you later then." Himino-san walked away leavening the little girl to stand at the sliding door like a statue for a few minutes until she worked up the courage to raise her hand and nock the door. Her fingers were shaking and her breath shallow, why was she so stupid? Why couldn't she just nock on the door? Her knuckles hit the door lightly. Footsteps were heard from behind the entrance and a calm settled in the room as the children beyond the door settled down. The sliding door opened and a man stood there with a similar white shirt and black pants as Mr. Himino, but his tie was in better condition and looked a lot more formal.  
  
"You're the new girl?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Right, I'll introduce you to the class. Wait here, I'll get their attention."  
  
As it was there was a bit of a murmur in the class.  
  
"There's this new kid, I hear."  
  
"Yeah, where'd she come from?"  
  
"How do you know it's a girl?"  
  
"I herd it off some kid from class C!"  
  
"They're all liars! My brother told me it was a boy."  
  
"Aw, what does he know?"  
  
"A lot more then you!"  
  
"Silence, class. We have a new student." Turning to the open door the teacher called to the child, "You can come in now."  
  
Toratsuki walked in nervously. Perhaps if she kept her head down they wouldn't see her face. Perhaps if she just were to disappear then there would be less pairs of eyes staring at her. It was like her skin was crawling, she could feel their eyes as they glared at her. How did she get into this mess? Why did she even get up in the morning? The teacher regarded his papers and then had a good look at Toratsuki.  
  
"Matsumoto Toratsuki will be joining our class. Can you tell the class a little bit about yourself?"  
  
Had he just asked her to speak? Was that what he wanted? Perhaps she was supposed to stand there! That would be so much easier, wouldn't it? Swallowing the lump in her throat, Toratsuki began.  
  
"Konichiwa hello I'm Matsumoto Toratsuki." The girl didn't take her eyes off her shoes, it was easier that way.  
  
The class hung on the last wards that she said expecting more. One minute, two minuets, three.there was quite a stunning silence as they waited.  
  
"W-well, wasn't that enlightening?"  
  
No one said a thing as they stared nervously at the girl whose eyes they could not see. Mr. Fujimaki returned to his papers and soon looked over the class again.  
  
"Alright then, where shall we put you?"  
  
All the eyes of the class darted around the room to find what would soon be the new girl's desk. There was one right in front of a black haired girl right by the windows. Oh please, let him pick that one. Toratsuki begged inside her self, just pick that one!  
  
" Um, why not the seat near young Kimutoki." He pointed to the window seat.  
  
Thank you!  
  
Nodding, she adjusted her bag and walked over to the desk. Seating herself she took off her bag and opened her first book. The old dusty pages looked to be over fifty years old or so and the paper looked it. The yellow on the edges made some of the words hard to read, but Toratsuki didn't care.  
  
The day wore on like this, although the class went ahead on their studies, the girl was content to read her book and ignore the teacher's commands to put the book away. The bell rang for lunch causing the book to jolt from her hands in shock. Pulling out her lunch, Toratsuki ate in silence until a tapping on her shoulder interrupted her and almost caused her to chock.  
  
"Konichiwa! I'm Kimutoki Himuri. I sit right behind you." Getting in front of the girl and leaning on the desk.  
  
Nothing was said to this affect, only chewing and turning the pages of the book.  
  
"You remember me don't you? I'm the girl by the picture?"  
  
This caused Toratsuki to look up, and startled her immensely.  
  
"See, I knew you remembered me! Were you okay back there? You know, when you were staring at that painting? What got you so upset?"  
  
"Nothing." Not another word passed.  
  
"Huh? What's wrong? Do you still feel sick?"  
  
The chair scraped against the ground as the girl stood up and took her book with her.  
  
"Where are you going?" Himuri got up and watched as her classmate left the room, slamming the door behind her.  
  
" My classroom is just down the hall and I hope you'll drop by if you need anything." That's what he had said, right? To drop by if she needed something? Walking down the hall, Toratsuki looked for the room. She could make out his scent all right, just there was more in the way this time. Walking up to another sliding door, Toratsuki looked for his scent. Yes, it was there, on the door! The smell of flowers, deodorant, coffee, sweat, books and was that ramen? Yes, that was ramen all right. Must have been a fast lunch. Knocking on the door, the girl didn't wait for a come in, she just slid the door open quietly and walked in seating herself near Mr. Himino's desk. The man looked up from his bowl of noodles and stared at the girl. The classroom was empty and so it was quiet there. Excellent, nice and quiet, just as she liked it.  
  
"I see you found my class with no problem. How did you know, I never old you which room I was in?"  
  
"I could smell your scent all over the door." Toratsuki didn't even look up from the pages of Edger Allan Poe.  
  
"Hmmm, I see. I didn't realize I smelt that bad."  
  
"Not bad, just your own scent."  
  
The teacher had a little bit of a sixth scenes and from the moment he saw the tail in he hallway, he knew that the girl was not exactly showing her true self.  
  
"So, you like to keep your tail hidden then?"  
  
The startled the girl and she looked up and stared at him.  
  
"What are you talking about? I don't have a tail. No human has one."  
  
The man had heard of ghosts and restless sprits before and how their reality was very delicate. One wrong word could destroy their world forever or leave them in very bad condition. Although this thing was very much alive, she too had her own world, and Mr. Himino would have to tread carefully lest another slip like that occurred again. Now to try and save face and the conversation he would have to make up for himself.  
  
"Oh, I know. I meant tale, as in a story. You seem to keep yourself hidden."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry."  
  
The lie was excepted as truth and the man mentally breathed a sigh of relief. She had bought it and it seemed no real damage had been done. But what a great scenes of smell! This child had a tail too. He had seen it, hadn't he? Yes, yes he was very sure he had. Then what was this thing? A Neko? Cat Or something other? Well, she could sniff things out, and he could feel a magical energy on her, but it didn't seem to match her own abilities properly. As if the energy wasn't hers. Soon the girl had to go back to class, and the man was left to his own events.  
  
The bell rang for the day to end and Toratsuki walked home as she had walked to school. Alone.


	5. Fainting Spells

Chapter 5: Fainting Spells.  
  
People say that it's because there's not enough blood to the head that we faint others say its embarrassment. Obviously they don't believe in Clow Cards.  
  
Everything went fine until about the fifth grade when the rode got rough for Toratsuki. It was during her oral report on the town's shrines that something decided to cut in. Something not human. Before this, Toratsuki was seen as a quite, calm, and almost cold girl. Himuri was always trying to get close to her in hopes of having a friend, but with little or no results. Toratsuki would eat her lunch with Mr. Himino. She loved to draw and was quite good at it too. However, she wasn't very good at Geography or some areas in math. So during the classes she would draw instead of taking down the board note.  
  
"And so our shrines are a reminder of the.." Toratsuki stopped mid sentence and turned her head to face the window.  
  
Moon on icy-blue water.  
  
Wings and feathers.  
  
"Wait for me." A silent voice ruptured the stillness. The sky became dark and her mind was bombarded with a swift his of Magical energy that matched Yue's. Otherwise it wouldn't have heart her so. The Dark. The first card under Yue was being captured and she knew it. Well, knew that it existed anyway.  
  
Wings.  
  
Moon.  
  
Dark.  
  
Cat's eyes.  
  
What was going on?  
  
"Matsumoto-chan? Is everything all right? Matsumoto-chan?" Her teacher asked a little stupidly. There was not a word from the girl.  
  
Moon in ice.  
  
Trees.  
  
A boy!  
  
Silver hair.  
  
The Darkness was overwhelming.  
  
Falling, I'm falling. She thought. Why am I falling this way? Like I'm weightless or suspended by a wire or string. What am I doing? Blackness filled her world.  
  
There was a dull thud as her body hit the floor and a bit of scraping as chairs slid away and people stood up to have a good look at what happened.  
  
"People, please, let's stay calm! Someone get the school nurse!" Pandemonium struck and soon a girl and her brother ran out of the classroom to get the nurse. Mr. Himino burst into the room and as soon as he saw the girl his fear was confirmed. In truth, he too had sensed the card and it had caused him to break the new peace of chalk with the sudden pressure of his hand. He had dismissed himself after giving his students bookwork to do.  
  
"What happened?" He almost snapped.  
  
"I-I don't know. One minute she was giving her report, the next she's as pale as a sheet." The teacher stammered. Obviously she hadn't known about the surge of power, but he had and so did Toratsuki.  
  
"You," Mr. Himino said pointing at Himuri, "help me lift her and we'll take Matsumoto-chan to the nurses office.  
  
"Yes, sir." Himuri helped the man get through the doors and out to the hall. On the way they met the nurse and the two children.  
  
"It's alright, she just had a bit of a shock. Oral presentations do this to people." Mr. Himino said to the boy and his sister and then told them to go back to class and let their teacher know that everything was under control. The students nodded and went back to class.  
  
"It happens every year. We always get one of these space cases that just can't handle the pressure of giving presentations to the class. It's come to be known by the staff as 'SSFS'"  
  
"What's that?" Himuri asked as they lay her classmate in a cot near the window.  
  
"SSFS is 'Serious Stage Fright Syndrome' and we get at least five of these children every year. I swear, it's almost as if we need smelling salt to wake them up. You too just stay here for a minute while I go file a report."  
  
Mr. Himino looked at the girl and then at Himuri.  
  
"It wasn't stage fright."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, I just was thinking out loud." That was too close.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I, uh.never mind. I need to get back to class. You have my permission to stay here and keep an eye on her, all right? I'll let your teacher know where you are."  
  
With that the man walked out leavening the two alone in the room. Toratsuki tossed and turned in her sleep. Mumbling things as she went.  
  
"No! No, get away! Don't touch me! I said, don't touch me! Get back, back!"  
  
Kimutoki- chan didn't know what to do. She had never had to stay with a person who talked in her sleep.  
  
" Please! Help me! Help me! No, go away! Don't touch me! Leave me alone! I said, go away!"  
  
A teacher stuck her head in to see what the commotion was.  
  
"What's going on in here?"  
  
"She's not feeling well. It's just a nightmare."  
  
"Well shut her up, will you? I'm trying to make a phone call." Closing the door behind her the teacher left the room and Himuri's attention went back to Toratsuki.  
  
"Please, help me! Get them away! They're going to kill me! Help! HELP ME!"  
  
SMACK!  
  
Her hand rammed into the side of her classmate's skull and soon the girl was silent and just fidgeted a bit.  
  
"Ouch, what a hard head. I wonder what she was dreaming?"  
  
Soon the fidgeting gave way to whimpering and then in a single moment, Yue's illusion disappeared. Toratsuki's eyes snapped open and her true eyes shone through. Himuri gasped as the cat like slits widened and adjusted to the light. The girl sat up in the cot and looked around.  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
"You-you're in the nurses office. You fainted during class. Daijoubu desu ka?" (Are you all right?)  
  
Rubbing her eyes, Toratsuki looked at Himuri.  
  
"I'm fine. My head is killing me, though."  
  
"Why'd you faint?"  
  
"I saw something outside the window. It was all black like the night and had a crown on its head."  
  
"I didn't see anything."  
  
Toratsuki rubbed her eyes on her palms. She looked at Himuri with her ice- like eyes. "I know what I saw."  
  
"Okay, okay. It's just you pitched over really hard. Does your head hurt any?"  
  
Putting a hand to a bump on her skull, the girl winced a bit. "A little." She lied.  
  
Just as she brought her hand away, the school bell rang and caused sparks to go off inside her throbbing head. Doubling over on the bed, Toratsuki held her aching skull in her hands and tried to subdue the pain.  
  
"Oh! Hey, you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, just a little dazzled. That's the bell, you should go home now."  
  
"What, and leave you here?"  
  
Giving her a look that could have made anyone back off in fear, Toratsuki got up and tried to get out of bed. "I'm fine." As she did, the girl managed to trip over her own feet and wound up kissing the floor.  
  
"Look, you're not all that convincing."  
  
"Shaddup." She groaned.  
  
The leaves whisked across the ground as the two girls made their way to Toratsuki's house. The walk was slow as Himuri had to help her classmate along the way.  
  
"I really don't need your help, you know."  
  
"Right, that's why you can walk properly without pitching over."  
  
"Ha ha, very funny."  
  
"Well, I think you should lighten up a bit, it's not such a bad thing to let someone help you, ya know?"  
  
Toratsuki snorted.  
  
"Don't you ever get lonely?"  
  
A weak point. Himuri had hit a weak point.  
  
"No, it's not so bad. I just go home, do my work and go to bed. I'm fine on my own."  
  
"What do you mean on your own?"  
  
"Well, my parents are always away and so I'm usually alone."  
  
Toratsuki looked at the pavement as they walked.  
  
"Don't you have a brother or sister?"  
  
"Not really. I think I do, but I'm not that sure."  
  
"How can you be not sure about a having a sibling?"  
  
"'Dunno, I'm just not sure."  
  
"That's strange."  
  
"I know."  
  
The front door was open and the two walked in.  
  
"You don't lock the door?"  
  
"Why should I? It's not like there's anything valuable. Besides, no one ever comes down this way anyhow."  
  
As the two took off their shoes, Himuri looked around. There was a small rush mat and some steps leading up to the door. Walking into the main hall there were a few Chinese pictures of panda's and dragons on the wall. The wood floor was clean and didn't even look like anyone had touched it in days. Kimutoki Himuri looked into the next room. The living room had no television, just a couch and some chairs around an old looking desk. The crimson rug didn't cover the entire floor, but it looked nice anyhow. Toratsuki walked over in a bit of a limping manor.  
  
"Look, you can go home now. I'll be alright from here on in, okay?"  
  
"Do you have any family pictures? You know, you mentioned a brother or sister. Any pictures of them?" Himuri purposely changed the topic. How could she go home and leave the girl alone at her house after she had fainted not two hours ago? Leavening was not an option.  
  
"I don't think I have any family pictures at all, come to think of it."  
  
"Really? I have lots at my house."  
  
"Yeah, well, I don't."  
  
"What about-?"  
  
"My brother? Oh, well, it's really stupid, actually."  
  
"What? What's stupid?" The two girls walked into the kitchen and Toratsuki started to make some tea for the both of them. While she worked on the tea, Himuri sat herself down and listened.  
  
"Well, it's just that, I've only dreamt about him."  
  
"Alright, you lost me."  
  
"It's a long story. I woke up one day and I just went to school."  
  
"Now you really lost me. I wake up all the time and 'just go to school'."  
  
"You don't understand. I just woke up. I can't remember anything else from the days before or even applying for the school. I just woke up on the first day and went to school."  
  
"You mean the day you were staring at that picture?"  
  
"Yup. It reminded me of someone. Like the person in my dream."  
  
"You have really weird dreams, you know that? I usually dream about winning ten million Yen* or finding the love of my life on some romantic cruse, but you get dreams about some guy who you think is your brother."  
  
* Yen is the Japanese currency for anyone who doesn't already know.  
  
"Don't look at me. I just dream it all. But it would be nice to meat him. He's so nice to me. He makes me feel like I'm not so alone, like I'm not a freak."  
  
"You're not a freak."  
  
"Says you."  
  
"Look, you're a better artist then me. Hey! Why don't you draw me a picture of your brother so I can see what he looks like."  
  
Shrugging, Toratsuki brought out some drawing paper and started to sketch Yukito's face.  
  
"That's pretty good."  
  
"Yeah, well it's all I'm good for these days."  
  
"Don't say that."  
  
"He makes me feel important, you know. Like nothing I've ever felt before. I'm not even sure if we are related, but it's just, I feel so right when I think of him."  
  
"Sounds like you have a crush!" Himuri teased.  
  
"Do not!"  
  
"Fine, but even if you do, it's alright to fall madly in love with the guy of your dreams."  
  
"Humph, and I suppose you do all the time?"  
  
"Sure, why not live a little?"  
  
"Well if that's the case, then why not?" Toratsuki smiled and snickered a bit.  
  
"Hey, I've never seen you smile like that before. You look so happy like that. How come you never look that way in class?"  
  
"Why should I?"  
  
"I dunno, you'd meet more people that way."  
  
"Why would I wanna do that?"  
  
"You're hopeless."  
  
"D'uh."  
  
The two burst out laughing and for a second in time Kimutoki Himuri got to see a side of her classmate that had been hidden. A softer, gentler side that had been hidden so well for years by her tough exterior. Now it poured into the room like a river of light. She was so happy. The girl wished it could stay this way for all time, Toratsuki was just so happy. 


	6. Dreams

Chapter 6: Dreams  
  
Dreams can mean everything and nothing all at the same time. It was once said 'Dreams are actions without thoughts and life is thoughts without actions' - speaker unknown.  
  
A few days had passed since the fainting spell. The class had almost all but forgotten it ever happened. Toratsuki and Himuri had become good friends and often they would confide in each other. However, there were still things Toratsuki would never tell Himuri.  
  
During their math class, Toratsuki started to doze off. Her eyes felt heavy and soon they were closed.  
  
Wings. Feathers.  
  
Cat's eyes.  
  
An old mansion.  
  
Moon on the icy water.  
  
Darkness.  
  
That voice. 'Remember me. I will call for you.'  
  
The boy.  
  
Silver hair.  
  
Blood!  
  
The voice whispered closely to her. 'Toratsuki, wake up, your dreaming.' The winged figure started to walk away from her leavening Toratsuki's naked soul all alone in the moonless night.  
  
"No! Don't leave me. Please don't leave me!"  
  
Again the voice spoke to her. 'Toratsuki, wake up. You're dreaming."  
  
"No, please! Don't go!"  
  
This time the person turned to look at her. His skin was fair and gentle like his eyes. She reached a tattered hand out to him.  
  
"Please, stay with me. Don't leave me."  
  
The figure was in front of her in seconds, and thus is the power of dreams. Things are unrealistic and yet they seem so real. The majestic fingers slid across her face and seemed to sway her into a soft tone. They calmed her, made her feel warm inside.  
  
"You came back for me."  
  
'You're dreaming.'  
  
"I don't care."  
  
The strong arms scooped her up and held her close to him. Toratsuki could feel his hart beat and it soothed her. The white wings wrapped around her body and tickled her face. His eyes stared into hers softly as if to stare into her soul.  
  
'You're dreaming.' He repeated.  
  
"I don't care."  
  
She clung to him like a leaf to a tree bound by its stem. He smiled and let her go slowly. But somehow it felt faster to her.  
  
"No! Please don't leave me!"  
  
'Remember me.'  
  
"Don't go!"  
  
'Remember me.'  
  
"Don't leave me here all alone!"  
  
Just then, another voice broke in. This voice was weak at first, but it grew stronger and stronger as time went on.  
  
"Matsumoto-chan! Masumoto-chan, you're dreaming. Wake up."  
  
"No! I want to stay!"  
  
"Wake up! You're dreaming."  
  
"I don't care!"  
  
'Remember me.'  
  
"I don't care!"  
  
"Wake up!"  
  
'Remember me.'  
  
"Wake up!"  
  
"Stay with me!"  
  
"Wake up!"  
  
'Remember me'  
  
"I DON'T CARE!"  
  
The children around her snickered as her char scraped the floor when she stood up abruptly. A pencil still clutched in her hands as she stood. Himuri was covering her eyes with her hands and had her self lowered to the desk in embarrassment. The teacher was standing right beside her and she had almost jabbed her eye out with the pencil when she had taken to her feet. Toratsuki blushed and sat down.  
  
"You've arrived just in time, Matsumoto-chan. The lesion is over." The teacher said bluntly.  
  
"G-gomen nasai." *I'm sorry * She stammered in a hushed voice.  
  
"Well, I suppose there's nothing for it. Get the notes off someone in class who wasn't asleep."  
  
Pouting, Toratsuki packed up her things and exited the class with everyone else.  
  
"Why didn't you wake me up?" She asked Himuri.  
  
"I tried, but you just kept on mumbling on about not caring and not to leave you or something."  
  
"I said that stuff out loud?!" Toratsuki blushed a deeper shade of red then was thought to be physically possible.  
  
"Yup, you gotta stop that, you know. Why'd you fall asleep anyhow?"  
  
"I haven't got a lot of sleep lately."  
  
"Why? Why didn't you tell me?!" Himuri stopped in her tacks and stared at Toratsuki who didn't take her eyes off the floor.  
  
" It's alright, really. I just haven't slept for two days is all."  
  
"Two days?! Toratsuki-chan, what's with you? You love sleeping! What's gotten into you?"  
  
"I just had a dream that's been bugging me so I was afraid to sleep, okay?"  
  
"No, it's not okay! You have to tell me about these things. I'm your friend! I'll help you!"  
  
"I don't want you worrying about me, okay? You have enough stuff to think about without worrying about my problems."  
  
Himuri was taken back. This once cold child had been thinking solely about her friend and how she would have felt not about her own feelings. That was a switch, especially from the beginning of the year.  
  
The next day Toratsuki was talking with Himuri.  
  
"I had that dream again."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"All I can remember is there's this guy with wings, water, white feathers and that's about it."  
  
"Do you think he's an angle?"  
  
"Possibly."  
  
"What else?"  
  
"Well, you remember the picture of the guy I drew?"  
  
"The one who you think is your brother?"  
  
"Yeah, that guy. I always catch glimpses of him here and there. The winged man is so kind to me, but in the end he always leave. I feel so lonely when I wake up."  
  
"This is so cool! You think he could be some kind of guardian angel or something?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because! He's just not the type."  
  
"Not the type? What do you know about guardian angles?"  
  
"Dunno, just that he seems so different from what you would think, right?"  
  
"I don't know. It's your dream."  
  
"D'uh, it's just that he's so sweet to me and in the dream he protects me form harm by blasting things with this blue light and stuff. Then he puts me down and tells me to 'remember him'"  
  
"Wow, that's just like something out of a book! You know, love at first sight!"  
  
Toratsuki rolled her eyes and made gagging sounds.  
  
"What? You don't like romance?"  
  
"All that love makes me want to hurl. I'm not even sure this is just something out of my own mind."  
  
"But you've had the dream so many times now! It has to be real!"  
  
"No it doesn't."  
  
"Oh, lighten up! Can't you just look past the romance novel and into the truth of it? You like this guy!"  
  
"N-nani?" *W-what? * Toratsuki nearly fell of the desk she was perched on. "I AM NOT!"  
  
"Says you! You get all red in the face when you talk about him."  
  
"I do no-!" Something flashed and the shield was dropped. For an instant Himuri got a look at the true Toratsuki. The illusion was shattered. The girl didn't even notice, but her classmate did. She gasped and pushed back in fear.  
  
* * *  
  
Kinomoto Toya was walking outside when he found Yukito's sleeping form dozing under a tree. The boy looked so frail and pale that Toya raced over to him. The last little while had been a living nightmare for him and his friend. Although Yukito never verbally admitted it, his best friend had seen that he was falling.  
  
"Yuki!"  
  
The boy fidgeted in his sleep and then his eyes snapped open. "Huh?"  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Sleeping." He answered tiredly.  
  
Toya saw the part of his hand that vanished and how the erased part of his body began to spread over his arm. The boy grabbed Yukito's arm to try to get it to reappear; it worked.  
  
"To-ya?"  
  
"It's nothing."  
  
***  
  
Toratsuki was staring at Himuri when the illusion went back over her.  
  
"Himuri-chan? What's wrong?"  
  
Deciding she must have been dreaming and that it was all a trick her eyes had played on her, she dismissed it.  
  
"N-nothing. I just-nothing."  
  
Toratsuki shrugged and leaned back against the wall. "You're really jumpy today. Maybe you should be the one who gets to sleep."  
  
Himuri laughed a little and in an uneasy tone, but it was a laugh and it was convincing enough. Toratsuki laughed along with her unaware of what that transpired. 


	7. What I'll Never Say

Chapter 7: What I'll Never Say  
  
Have you ever touched the hart of another and lived? Have you sought the light in the darkest of places? Will you understand what I say when I say it? Have you ever walked on water? And will you see the real me and not the one I hide?  
  
The icy water reappeared again and the man with white wings appeared in front of her. Toratsuki could tell he was hurting. The being was sinking into the frigid water.  
  
"Wait! Please, don't die!"  
  
The person didn't say anything but when she reached for his hand she could tell it was icy cold.  
  
"I'll come to you! Please, stay with me!"  
  
"I won't last much longer."  
  
"No! Don't die!"  
  
"There is something you need to know before I leave this place."  
  
"No!" Tears ran down her face as she tried to pull him up out of the water.  
  
"You are not a normal human, in fact you are not even human at all."  
  
Toratsuki stopped.  
  
"W-what?"  
  
"See for yourself."  
  
Peering into the water she could see her ears and tail, the cat eyes stared back at her.  
  
"This is a dream!"  
  
"No, I just used my power to make you look human. Now, I must fulfill my promise."  
  
The dream ended and darkness filled the world. A voice broke that silence.  
  
"Listen to me, Toratsuki, and listen carefully. You are now Tsukishirou Toratsuki. You live with your older brother Yukito."  
  
A picture of the boy flashed through her head as he gave her the new instructions.  
  
"You will wake up and find a uniform for your new school and a train ticket to where he lives. Once you get off, Yukito will pick you up and you will go home. You will not remember ever living here in this house or attending his school. You will not remember you old name or that you ever lived in this house. When asked you will say that you are going to stay with your brother. I will tell Yukito what to say so that he is expecting you. He will not know that in truth you do not have a brother and he does not have a sister. Yukito is just a mask for me just like your illusions are a mask for you. Now, wake up."  
  
Toratsuki woke up and ran downstairs. She could not afford to miss the train! Grabbing her new uniform, she got out of her nightgown and pulled them on. There on the table were two train tickets. Racing out of the house she ran down the street to catch the bus at the end of the block.  
  
"Exact fair only please."  
  
Seating herself on the bus she looked back and watched as the house vaporised into nothingness as the illusion wore off. There, in its place, was the forest near Clow's mansion. Toratsuki turned around in her seat and ignored the old woods behind her.  
  
At the school, Himuri was waiting for the teacher to take the attendance and get on with the lesion. She wondered if Toratsuki had overslept.  
  
"Did I miss anyone?" The teacher asked.  
  
"Yes, you missed Matsumoto Toratsuki!" Himuri said a little sharply.  
  
The teacher looked at her as if she had just said something in an altered language. "There's no one in this class by that name."  
  
A few children nodded and murmured on how they had never heard of this girl in their lives.  
  
"That can't be right! She was here yesterday." Himuri pointed to the seat in front of her.  
  
The teacher scrolled her eyes across the page. "There's no Toratsuki on this attendance sheet."  
  
"There was yesterday." She said smartly.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
Himuri ran out of the classroom unaware that the reason they had no memory of her friend was that Yue had tampered with their memories. Only Himuri had not forgotten because she was a friend and a close one at that. Racing into the office, the girl started yelling at the secretary.  
  
"There's a girl in our class named Matsumoto Toratsuki, she's not here today."  
  
The secretary typed in the name on the computer. "I'm sorry, miss. There's no one here by that name."  
  
"Yes there is! She's this tall, has brown hair, blue eyes, and is in class B-1!"  
  
"I'm sorry, miss. There is no one in this school by that name. I've never seen her in my life."  
  
"Yes you have! She was in here the day she fainted. About five months ago!"  
  
"Listen to me, miss. I have never seen or herd of this girl. Now I need to get back to work, if you don't mind."  
  
Himuri raced down the street. Sure, she was cutting class. But there was something wrong with this picture. Toratsuki had disappeared from the face of the earth. There was nothing else that could be said for it. Now there was just her and the open road. The sidewalk pounded beneath her feet, it was almost like she was flying down the road. Suddenly she skidded to a stop and nearly pitched over.  
  
GONE!  
  
The house was gone!  
  
Himuri was dripping sweat and her sides heaved as she tired to breath. This was a dream right? It had to be. Yeah, that was it. All a stupid dream. Any minute now she'd wake up and forget all about this. The wind tossed her hair as she stood, eyes wide, mouth agape and waiting for something to snap her out of the trance. There in front of her was not the white house she had seen and walked into before. Instead, a forest of old looking trees stood in front of her. Deciding against her better judgment, Himuri took off into the forest. All around her she could hear things from the past. However she was unaware of that and so she took them to be ghosts.  
  
"H-help me!"  
  
"Little rat!"  
  
"You get that little brat!"  
  
"Is it dead?"  
  
Screams filled the atmosphere and Himuri felt her lungs beg for air and soon she was forced to stop. Heaving and gasping for the sweet air of the forest, the girl bent over to catch her breath.  
  
What was all this?  
  
A snap of a twig shot the child out of her thoughts. What if it was some kind of serial killer? What if it was a ghost? Or maybe a monster?  
  
"Kimutoki-chan?" Mr. Himino waked out of the woods.  
  
He's a serial killer! Himuri's fear shot to her head before she could dismiss it with a 'that's ridiculous'.  
  
"What are you doing out here?"  
  
Shouldn't that be her question?  
  
"I-I thought, um, the teacher never, uh, Toratsuki-chan, she disappeared." She managed to choke out.  
  
"Kimutoki-chan, Matsumoto Toratsuki is not exactly a human being."  
  
What?  
  
"What?" What was that suppose to mean? Was this guy insane? She was as human as anyone! Wasn't she?  
  
"I know this is strange to hear, but it's true."  
  
"T-that's n-not true! You're lying!" Himuri could feel the tears well up in her eyes. This guy was insane! Mad! Ultimately crazy! Toratsuki was a human being! But that day, there was no doubting what she saw. She could tell her eyes were widening in the horror of the memory.  
  
Icy blue cat eyes.  
  
A tail.  
  
Pointy ears.  
  
"You saw it, didn't you?"  
  
"S-saw what?" Deny it. Deny and forget what you saw, it was easier that way.  
  
"You saw her true self, didn't you? Yes, I can see it in your eyes."  
  
"I have n-no idea w-what your talking a-about!"  
  
"You only wish you had no idea, but you know the truth, and you can't deny it."  
  
All right, he knew. There was no use in trying to hide it now. Not now when the tears were flowing steady and the fear in her eyes was as obvious as the trees around her.  
  
"Okay, so what if I did? How do you know so much? And why are you out here anyway?"  
  
"I've known about Matsumoto-chan's little secret since I first saw her. I got a glimpse of her tail when she ran into me on the first day of class."  
  
"Ran into you?"  
  
"Yes. She came running around the corner like the devil himself was on her tail." The man laughed at his pun.  
  
That day!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Daijoubu desu ka?" * Are you all right? *  
  
"Huh?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I'm guessing by the look on your face that you have a bit of knowledge of that day's events?"  
  
What was the use lying now? The truth was out there, and the teacher seemed to know everything before she could open her mouth. To deceive her self into thinking that she could possibly know less then she really did was ultimately pointless.  
  
"The-the picture in the front hall, she was staring at it as if she were in a trance."  
  
The man nodded. "I see. The one with the doves. I'm not sure what she was, nor what attachment she had to this world, but it was indeed unnatural." Mr. Himino said as he rubbed his chin.  
  
"Y-you mean she was a ghost?"  
  
"It's a possibility. You said she was fixed on that picture in the hall."  
  
"Yes, every time we passed she would stop and look at it like she was in a daze."  
  
The man nodded as if this information would suffice. "She could have been an affixed ghost of all I know, but you don't have any sixth sense and I'm not sure why she would find a friend in a mortal without one."  
  
"W-what do you mean?"  
  
"A ghost would have no need to attach itself to you unless you reminded her of the things she had when she was alive. No, the evidence just doesn't add up. Besides, we saw her true self; ghosts don't need illusions to hide who they really are. I think she was something different."  
  
"What then?"  
  
"Let's have a look at that picture. I'll let the school know your helping me for the day."  
  
Himuri nodded and the two picked their way out of the woods and back into the school. There in the main hall they looked at the painting that had hung in the main corridor for as long as they could remember.  
  
"This is the one. She was so confused. It looked like she was going to be sick."  
  
"Hmmm, this is a very intriguing piece of art. I wonder what it meant to her."  
  
"She never talked about it."  
  
"No?"  
  
"Nope, but she did mention an angelic looking person who was in her dreams. He had white wings like the doves do here. I still have a picture she made for me."  
  
Pulling out the folded piece of paper, Himuri handed it to the teacher. The man scanned it letting his eyes skim over every detail and crevice in the picture.  
  
"Yes. You say this came from her dreams?"  
  
Himuri nodded.  
  
"Listen, Kimutoki-chan, you must try to forget about this child. If she was a spirit, then she's gone to her final rest. If not-," The man trailed off as he adjusted his glasses, "Then we can only assume that she has gone to another place to look for herself. This creature was not a human and definitely not ordinary. She's probably long gone."  
  
Himuri felt the pit in he gut long before she could describe it. She stood staring at the picture and remembering what Mr. Himino had said.  
  
"Try to forget-."  
  
How?  
  
How?  
  
How could she forget?  
  
Forget all the times they had..?  
  
How?  
  
Chapter 8: What's Behind his Smile  
  
A smile is such a good mask. No one second guesses it, or thinks twice about what hides behind it. There is so much hidden away and a smile can keep it that way.  
  
It was coming. Definitely coming. Toya Kinomoto could feel it in his severed mind. Not one week ago he had given Yukito his power to save his life and he could still feel something heading in toward them.  
  
Painfully getting up he realised that at his current power level, he shouldn't be able to sense anything at all. So what was this feeling? Was it some kind of withdrawal? Opening the curtains to see out his bedroom window, Toya realized it was raining. Some kind of weather it was that afternoon. He thought. As he stood there he realized that whatever it was was coming up fast. Closer and closer it came. Must have been strong for even him to sense it. Just as he stood there, his legs gave out. Toya was still too weak to be stranding around. The shockwaves of the being had taken him by surprise and now he realized just the existent of the force. As his world was filled with darkness there was one final thought in his mind.  
  
It's here.  
  
Toratsuki stepped off the train and waded through the crowd.  
  
"Yukito!" She called out to the one she believed was her brother. Trying to find anyone in this crowd was nearly impossible! Rain splashed over her face and just as she was jostled from some stranger in the crowd, a firm hand caught her and drew the little thing close to him.  
  
"Toratsuki?"  
  
"Hai?" *Yes? *  
  
"Let's go home."  
  
The rain washed down on the two of them as they walked back to his house.  
  
"Have you been waiting for long?" He asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"That's good."  
  
The little girl nodded. She held Yukito's hand tightly and clung to him as if to never let him go.  
  
"Were you lonely without me?"  
  
Toratsuki tried to open her memories to seek her answer for him. Nothing. There was no memory of Himuri or the white house or of her old school.  
  
"Yes." A lie. She couldn't remember her life until that morning when she had woken up to get on the train. Oh well. No use in telling Yukito that.  
  
"Don't worry, we'll be at our house soon and then you wont have to be lonely any more."  
  
"Thank you." She whispered.  
  
Toya's eyes snapped open. Where? Where was this thing? It had to be somewhere! Climbing, in a clumsy fashion, to his feet, Toya raced for the door. He had to find this thing, and fast!  
  
"Where are you going?" Fujitaka asked as Toya raced past him to get to his bike.  
  
"Out for a ride!"  
  
"Be back before-!" The man stopped when he realized that it was dark and then thought about this for a moment. "Just.. be back!" He hollered to the boy who was already out the door and gone.  
  
"Oh..Never mind!" He said mostly to himself.  
  
Yuki's house! That's where he needed to go first. If anything, Yue would know where this whatever-it-was was hanging around. The peddles on his bike were working overtime as he raced. How was he doing this? After giving up his powers he really needed rest. Oh well. He had been feeling better and this was an emergency.  
  
Dropping his bike to the pavement outside Yukito's front door, Toya charged up and knocked a little forcefully.  
  
"Yuki! Yuki, I need to ask you something!"  
  
The boy opened the door and put his finger to his lips to show he wanted he wanted silence.  
  
"She's sleeping." The words were mouthed in silence and Toya cocked his head in confusion.  
  
She? Who the heck was he talking about?  
  
Toya was let inside and he followed Yukito up to the spare bedroom and in to find the sleeping form of a small child. Toratsuki was sleeping soundly making a few sleeping noises as she dozed.  
  
It's not human.  
  
That was the first thing the boy felt as he had taken the first few steps into the room, but without his powers he couldn't be sure. It would figure Yuki would bring home a pet, he thought.  
  
Walking downstairs to sit with Yukito at the table in the kitchen, Toya mused over the boy. He seemed to be a little happier with someone else in the house to keep him company.  
  
"Who is she?" He asked.  
  
"My little sister."  
  
"You have a sister?" This was news to Toya as his eyes widened a bit. Whatever it was seemed to pose as his sister. But why?  
  
They talked for a while, Toya trying to avoid the topic of the little 'girl' upstairs and focus on schoolwork instead. By the time the two looked up at the clock it was too late for Toya to go home, besides, he was really not comfortable with leaving his best friend home alone with his new 'pet'. This 'what-ever-it-was' could be anything and to leave it alone with Yuki was not a good idea. What if it was dangerous? What if it fed off moon- centred energy? What if it was some kind of wild beast that could be enraged at the drop of the hat? Who knew what Yukito had brought home? Knowing Yuki's gentle and kind nature he could attract just about anything around. Maybe it just needed a home, yeah, some harmless little thing followed him because he was nice to her and 'she' needed a friend. Or what if it had always been here and Toya just hadn't noticed? No, that wasn't possible. He would have 'felt' its presence before. Not like now, now he could barely 'feel' anything.  
  
Toya was sleeping in the spare bedroom on the floor not too far from the girl. Yukito only had one spare room and it would have to be shared. It was too late at night for Toya to care at this point so he didn't protest. His eyes grew heavy as he lay there and soon his sleep was upon him like a thick cloud.  
  
*Bring forth your mighty banner So unto you, I give my hart. My soul cries out to you, And unto thee I cast my hart  
  
The song.  
  
Wings.  
  
Moon on ice water.  
  
The eyes.  
  
Those eyes were paralysing him! He couldn't move! HE COULDN'T MOVE!  
  
Toya sat up in a thick sweat. Something in the darkness caught his eyes. A feather. A single blush white feather was sitting squarely on his chest. Picking it up, he looked it over. Not an ordinary feather by any means, but nothing to be concerned about he should think. Getting up, he wanted to be sure. Yue's wings were white like this, maybe something had happened.  
  
Walking quietly down the hall, Toya didn't want to wake his friend should he still be sleeping. Just as he got close he heard the song again.  
  
*Bring forth your mighty banner So unto you, I give my hart. My soul cries out to you, And to thee I cast my hart  
  
Looking into the room Toya tired, to get a good look as to what was going on. Inside he nearly gasped. There, sitting with Yuki's head resting in her lap was a winged creature with pointed cat-like ears, the tail swished back and forth as feathers and little balls of light that looked like fireflies floated around the room and rested on Yukito's body. The boy was asleep and the creature was running her fingers through his hair. It didn't look too old at all and Toya could barely feel the magic pouring off her entity. What was this thing?  
  
*Bring forth your mighty banner So unto you, I give my hart. My soul cries out to you, And to thee I cast my hart  
  
It was singing to him! What was it doing? Maybe this thing was coming to steal his magic powers! That had to be it! That's got to be it!  
  
Looking for something to scare the thing off, Toya noticed a broom that Yukito must have forgotten to put away. Snatching it up, the boy leaped into the room and took a swing at the creature.  
  
The being hissed and shielded Yuki with her arms as if to protect him. Clutching his body close to hers she continued to chant.  
  
*Bring forth your mighty banner So unto you, I give my hart. My soul cri-  
  
The older boy had recovered himself and charged again with the broom.  
  
"Get away from him!"  
  
Another hiss and the thing took a swipe at her attacker.  
  
"I said, LET HIM GO!" This time the broom clubbed her over the head and sent the being sprawling.  
  
"Leave now!" Toya insisted.  
  
The girl took one last leap for Yukito's sleeping body, but the broom caught her right in the chin and sent her flying again. This time she disappeared into the night like a shadow.  
  
Dropping his weapon, Toya walked over to Yuki, who was still sleeping, and checked him for any cuts or wounds. Nothing. Satisfied with this, he draped the blanket over his friend. Scooting over to lean against the wall, Toya picked up his discarded weapon and clutched it firmly. What ever it was was bound to return and he WOULD be ready! As his eyes drooped, he felt himself become overwhelmed with sleep. 


	8. Suspicions

Chapter 8: Suspicions  
  
It's never a good thing to assume anything. My grade eight teacher once told me that when you assume you make an 'ASS out of U and ME' these specific words are capitalized because they are the letters of the word assume. So it is with everything in life, assuming leads merely to being an ass.  
  
Toya woke up with a bit of a headache and a really sore back. Realizing he had fallen asleep, the boy could have smacked himself, but refrained from doing so. Standing up, he left the room and went downstairs. It was five o'clock in the morning and Toya thought it safe to go home now. Whatever it was could certainly not decide to come out of hiding at this lonely hour of the morn. As he walked out the door, he turned and looked back. The house had always given him the shivers, but this was so much different. Like something else was living there, something untapped.  
  
Once at home Toya collapsed on his bed and fell instantly asleep. His dreams were troubled that early morning. Dreams of people screaming, brooms, a tree, wings and ice all rolled into one wild ride of confusion and mayhem. It was his alarm clock that threw him out of that world and into what he hoped was the real one. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Toya got up and went to get his school uniform from his closet. Strange how the song from earlier that night could not be broken from his mind even now; hours away from its time of transpire. How could he shake it out of his throbbing head? Never mind that. He told himself. Yuki would be waiting for him and he would surely be late if he didn't put on an ounce of speed.  
  
The bike ride was not a brief one. It felt longer as Sakura chatted with him on the way. He had given her a hard time again and it seemed like she wouldn't stop long enough for him to right his thoughts and gain control of his not-yet-awake body. Yuki was waiting for him as usual, but his little 'sister' was not with him. This worried Toya a little but he didn't press the matter. Yuki, himself, looked a little tiered still from last night, even though he slept through the disruption.  
  
"Hey To-ya, Sakura-chan. How are you?"  
  
"Good!" She smiled her usual grin at the boy as they rode on. She was able to keep up with them only because Yukito and Toya allowed her, if they had wanted to shake her off their tails they could just as easily have, but that was not the case. Now Yukito was relating his dreams of what he was going to have for breakfast and what Sakura had dreamed of (Which Toya hadn't bothered to listen to). The sky was blue, as it usually was every day this time of year. The trees were casting their much-appreciated shade over the three travelers and it caused their faces to be dappled with light and darkness. Funny how those two attributes coincide these days. Like a replica of the human soul. Toya thought. Rather abstract as it was it made sense to him.  
  
They had arrived.  
  
His eyes had registered this before his mind had and Toya nearly ran over a passer by, but he managed to right himself and save face at the same time to boot. Dismounting, he locked up his bike beside Yuki's and they bid farewell to Sakura as she joined her friends, including the brat.  
  
Damn him.  
  
Toya really didn't like the boy, and his feelings still hadn't changed despite the fact that he knew he had aided his precious little sister when he couldn't have. Still..something about him was less then pleasing to him.  
  
"Whatcha thinking?" Yuki smiled his usual comforting smile. Radiant like the sun, yet humble like a small stream. Toya shrugged, he gave Yuki one of his own rare, lean smiles.  
  
"Nothing special." Not really a lie, but he was really not awake enough to tolerate an explanation at this moment.  
  
"You really don't like that Li kid, do you?"  
  
How could he have forgotten? It was like Yuki could read his face or his movement and know just what was hurting him so.  
  
"Yeah, well, he just gets on my nerves. Don't ask me why, I just don't trust him around Sakura."  
  
Yukito nodded as if to be satisfied with this and he dropped the topic.  
  
"It's Toratsuki's first day at her new school. She was so nervous this morning when she left the house."  
  
"When did she leave? She wasn't with us."  
  
"I know. She wanted to get there a bit early to find her class. She'll be coming with us after today, but I think she was eager to find her new class."  
  
Toya nodded. That sounded reasonable.  
  
"You remember someone coming into the house last night?"  
  
Yuki's brow tightened in wonder. "What do you mean?"  
  
Toya didn't want to worry Yuki without reason, not now at least. If things got too out of hand he would have to inform him of the goings on, but now was not necessary.  
  
"I thought I heard something last night. It was probably just a cat or a squirrel." That's right; keep a low profile for now.  
  
"No, can't say I did."  
  
He bought it. Maybe it was some kind of dream. Probably. But then how did-? Oh well, nothing to be done now.  
  
Sakura was sitting at her desk when Li leaned over to whisper into her ear, "We have a new classmate today."  
  
What?  
  
"What? We do?" Sakura scraped her chair across the floor to turn and look Li in the eye. He nodded and pointed briefly at the teacher who had just opened the door and escorted a pale looking child into the room. Her brown hair was short and it seemed to complement her uniform as well as could be expected. Her ice-blue eyes looked like a frozen lake in the new winter snow, but they seemed to have a distant fire to them.  
  
"Big year for exchange students, huh?" Tomoyo whispered as the teacher wrote her name on the board.  
  
"Where's Eriol-san today. He's not in class at all today." Sakura mumbled.  
  
"That's Yukito's last name, isn't it?" Li said in a shaky voice, or at least it sounded shaky to Sakura. Perhaps it was just the distance between them. Nevertheless it made Sakura pay attention to the board and not Eriol or his whereabouts.  
  
"Probably a coincidence." Tomoyo shrugged.  
  
"Please welcome Tsukishirou Toratsuki to our class. Please Miss. Tsukishirou; will you take a seat right in front of Miss. Kinomoto?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
Walking over to her new desk, Toratsuki looked at Sakura and let her own icy blue meat her classmate's forest green eyes. It was like mid winter touching its raspy fingers into a late spring day. The stair lasted so very long that nether noticed the class was fixed on their event.  
  
"Miss. Tsukishirou? Is there a problem?"  
  
Letting her eyes fall from Sakura's she turned and shook her head slowly.  
  
"No, there's no problem. Kinomoto-chan reminds me of someone I use to know a very long time ago."  
  
"Oh, I see. Well, please have a seat and we can continue the class."  
  
How strange. Sakura thought. It was like she was trying to freeze me with her stair.  
  
That day in class was very different. Toratsuki was horrible when it came to basic math, but her gym skills were quite good. During a few of the reading lesions she was caught staring out the window. When asked what page and what the topic the class was on, she was able to recite the very line that the class was on and discus it in length. The teacher was baffled and didn't scold her again for daydreaming. Come the last bell, she was out the door and outside before anyone could stop to say hi.  
  
Li, Tomoyo and Sakura were leavening the school when they saw he standing near the high school doors.  
  
"Hey, Li?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I've wanted to ask you something."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"How did you know that we had a new student today before anyone else did?"  
  
"Because it's not human, Sakura. Couldn't you sense it?"  
  
"N-no."  
  
"The thing was staring you strait in the face! How could you not have felt it?"  
  
"I'm not sure, but I don't think I did."  
  
They neared the chid and had to stop lest she heard them.  
  
"Hi, Tsukishirou-chan!" Sakura waved to her classmate.  
  
"H-hi."  
  
"Do you know a boy named Tsukishirou Yukito? He has the same last name as you do and I was wondering if you knew him."  
  
"Yeah, I know him. He's my brother."  
  
What?  
  
Just then the bell for the high school students rang and Toratsuki ran to find Yukito.  
  
"Yue has a little sister?"  
  
"That's impossible. Nothing in any of the books Clow wrote has anything on a sibling or anything else made by Clow." Li said  
  
"This is very strange." Tomoyo said.  
  
"We should talk with Kero about this." Sakura said as Yukito, Toya and Toratsuki walked out of the crowd. Li nodded and then went his own way home to avoid the wrath of Sakura's older brother. Tomoyo herself had to go for club and so she went her separate way after saying her good-byes.  
  
Toya and Yuki gave their greetings to Sakura and they walked on to their homes. Yukito and Toya talked most of the way as Toratsuki stayed at the older boy's heals like a puppy or some kind of frightened animal that felt safe near Yuki. Nevertheless, there was not a lot to do about it and so the idea was dropped all together. Toya suggested that he and Yukito study at their house and Sakura was invited along for Toratsuki to get to know her class mate and have someone her age to play with.  
  
Yuki's house was always a frightening thing for Toya. Not frightening, really, just uncomfortable. There were many trees and shrubs around that made the grounds look more like a contained forest if you didn't know better. Sakura, of coarse, didn't seem to be bothered.  
  
"So, where have you been living before you came to live with Yuki?" She asked.  
  
"I can't quite remember. My life before here is just a big blur, but I know I wasn't all that far from here." A confusing answer to a question Yue had not given her the answer for.  
  
"Oh." Sakura shook it off and decided that she was better off leaving things at that.  
  
Inside the kitchen, Toratsuki took off to get out of her uniform and let Sakura use her spare clothes.  
  
Coming down the stairs to meet up with Yukito and Toya, Toratsuki was dressed in a light Kimono. There were little crescent moons and stars in the deep blue material and it looked kind of cute on the girl. Sakura herself was wearing her own kimono (Or at least the one Toratsuki had lent her) it had goldfish on it and the material was also blue, although a lighter hue then Toratsuki's. Toya cocked an eyebrow. His sitter looked really cute in her kimono and he was proud of her that she was growing up on him, but it was really strange for them to be wearing kimono's around the house on what he had thought was such casual meeting in his best friends house.  
  
"Where's the fire?" He muttered to Yukito who was all smiles by now.  
  
"No fire. Toratsuki loves to dress herself up in Kimonos just for the fun of it. She loves the one with the moons on it so she wears it a lot around the house."  
  
"I see." He didn't really but as they say; 'whatever floats your boat'.  
  
Sakura blushed a bit, but Toratsuki giggled with a hint of glee. The girl dragged Sakura off to her room to play with her stuffed animals and to leave Yuki and Toya alone to study.  
  
Toya watched them leave and decided that Toratsuki was a very strange child indeed. Perhaps even more so then Yuki, but, hey, she had a good teacher.  
  
Toratsuki's room was small. There was only about five meters from the door to the back wall and about seven across. There were a few Japanese Ink paintings of dragons and pandas and things on the walls. The walls themselves were white like the snow and it made the room seem very bland. The bed was a simple module with blankets and a few pillows, but Sakura was most interested in the doll that rested near the head of the bedstead.  
  
"What's that?" She pointed to a doll of an angel-like figure. It was a toy that resembled Yue in his very likeness. A shudder ran down the girl's spine as it was handed to her. The long robes of white, blue and yellow material were very well crafted and the long white hair had been tied back as if it were real hair or a real person instead of a doll. The eyes were buttons sewn on and the arms were crossed, as Yue's were when he was thinking.  
  
"Where'd you get this?" Sakura asked.  
  
"I made it. Yuki helped me, of coarse."  
  
"It..looks like someone I know."  
  
Toratsuki shrugged and put the doll back on the bedstead. Handing Sakura a stuffed panda.  
  
"This one is one of my favourites." The panda was a cute little thing and Sakura smiled at its simple making.  
  
"So..what did you think of your first day of school?" She asked.  
  
"It was alright. I was kinnda nervous, but it was okay. Who was the boy sitting behind you? He was really strange."  
  
"Oh, Li? He's not strange, just a little shy around new kids."  
  
"He was staring at me right through class."  
  
"That's Li! He's just a little edgy around new kids. He sort of new still himself so he knows what it's like to be a new student. Sakura fumbled with the words and did quite well with an excuse.  
  
Toratsuki said nothing to further this, but left it as it was. There was nothing more on the topic to add and nothing to really take away.  
  
Yuki was working on the math assignment that was due the following day as Toya was writing up something for history. Little passed between them both, but nether bothered to worry about it. Their work was first at hand, and what was usually a social hour was now silent like the night. Toya was straining his mind to 'feel' out the aria around him. He tried to find the being that had haunted this place the night before, but to no prevail. The house was empty from what he could tell, and that in its self was very little indeed. Yukito looked up to find Toya staring off into the abyss of thought. There was nothing in his eyes that would have suggested a present form of light or darkness to speak of. Yuki poked his friend with his pencil gently so as not to shake him from the distant land he had wandered into too harshly.  
  
"Huh?" Toya just about jumped out of his skin and Yuki nearly leaped back in his own surprise.  
  
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." He apologized.  
  
"It's okay. I was just thinking." Toya shook his head to leave his friends mind to rest.  
  
"What were you thinking about?"  
  
"Nothing really. I just was trying to see something out with my mind." Toya rarely lied to Yuki. He felt it was like he couldn't. This wasn't a lie, but he had softened the truth down a smidge to keep it casual.  
  
"Did you find what you were looking for?" He asked. Yuki's coffee brown eyes were intently focused on Toya's serious look.  
  
"I wasn't really looking for anything specific, just..I thought I 'heard' someone last night and I was trying to see if I could find it."  
  
"Any luck?" Yuki was still smiling at his friend in his usual calm and collective grin.  
  
Toya shrugged indifferently, what could he say? Without a proper idea as to what he was looking for how was he to find it? It would be like trying to ask a friend which song you were looking for but only knowing the first two words. He told him so and Yuki looked concerned.  
  
"Who was it? A ghost or something other?"  
  
"It was no ghost, but other then that there's nothing else." Toya shrugged again and sighed.  
  
Sakura and Toratsuki were working on their own homework. Their math work was hard for Toratsuki and Sakura had to help her with some questions that she found almost obvious to solve. When they were done the work assigned it was time for Sakura to go home. She had a few chores to do, but there was also Kero to think of. He was most likely lonely without her to talk to and being alone in the house, who knew what he was up to. 


	9. Decisions

Chapter 9: Decisions  
  
When I make up my mind to do something, I do it. Unless I totally forget what it was I made up my mind to do. Of coarse sometimes I remember it at three o'clock in the morning and then have trouble getting back to sleep, then when the morning comes I've forgotten again.  
  
Himuri tossed and turned in her bed that night. It was already three in the morning and sleep was a hopeless figure now. Sliding out of the covers, the girl put on her fuzzy slippers and turned on a small lamp. This was ridiculous.  
  
"Listen, Kimutoki-chan, you must try to forget about this child-!"  
  
That's what he had said. Try to forget. But how-? Friendship wasn't something you could just tear up and toss into the wind like a flunked math test, it was a living, breathing thing that had flesh and blood! Or was that Toratsuki? Yes. She had flesh, skin like everyone else. Himuri remembered that from the day she had hit the girl to stop her from her nightmare. Such a hard head. Such cool skin. That was skin, wasn't it?  
  
If she was a spirit, then she's gone to her final rest. If not-,"  
  
If not? What was there if she wasn't? And so what if she wasn't? Human or not, Toratsuki was her friend! Sure it was sappy, but she was a friend and nothing else really mattered in the long run, right? Right?  
  
"We can only assume that she has gone to another place to look for herself. She's probably long gone."  
  
Long gone, huh? That wasn't like Toratsuki to just disappear without saying good-bye or anything. Surely their friendship was more then that! Surely it was! Yes, it had to be! That smile that the girl had given her whenever they met at school was proof enough! Rummaging silently through her closet, Himuri tried not to wake anyone as she got out of her pyjamas and find a new outfit to wear. Packing up a suitcase full of clothes and a few romance novels she opened the window and leaped out. Landing on her backside, the girl had to rub her rear to assist the damage and searing pain shooting through her, but soon it subsided and she was off. Not even looking back at her house, Himuri ran down the streets and toward Toratsuki's 'house'. Perhaps there would be some sort of clue there, just perhaps.  
  
The moon was half full that night and aside from the street lamps it shone down casting it's web-like fingers into the streets to eerily point out the way for the the-year-old. The roads were empty at this time in the morning, so it was kind of creepy to be running down the empty streets with a small bag of belongings, but it reminded the girl of an adventure story she read once by Hijawa Kisumori. One young man seeking the truth to his comrade's disappearance during the Second World War! Oh what a dashing figure he had cut himself to be, she thought. Oh well. Too bad it was just a story. The title was an interesting one too, reminding Himuri of what she was doing now.  
  
'Running in the streets'  
  
Yes, a good book and a good summers afternoon to have read it also, but that was far from thought now and was not exactly a necessary thing to think about as she raced along her way. Skidding to a stop in front of the place the large white house had been, Himuri gathered her courage, took a deep breath and wandered into the woods.  
  
It was dark under the trees and it took all of that previously gathered courage to hold her way firmly. What if there was a monster just waiting for her to come its way? What if she were kidnapped? What if there were ghosts? What if-?  
  
SNAP  
  
What was that? The twig surly could not have broken of its own accord!  
  
It was all she could do to stay still in the darkness of the woods as the trees towered around her. Just then she realized she was still wearing her fuzzy slippers and could have damned herself. How could she have forgotten the slippers? Never mind that now! She shrieked at herself. There's some psycho creep in the woods just waiting to-!  
  
A little grey squirrel ran through her line of vision and she was frightened at first, but then realized herself.  
  
"A squirrel? Just a stupid little squir-!"  
  
"Kimutoki-chan?"  
  
The larger hand had touched her shoulder before the voice was even put into scenes. Yelping, the girl turned around to see Mr. Himino standing right behind her.  
  
This is getting really creepy. She thought. It was bad enough to see this guy step out of the woods once before, but he was walking around here at three in the morning? There were no good or clean thoughts that could have made a logical explanation for this.  
  
"Relax, Kimutoki-chan. It's just me. Mr. Himino. What are you doing here?"  
  
That was a question she could just as well have asked him.  
  
"You couldn't forget, could you?"  
  
No.  
  
"No."  
  
The man shook his head. "Nether could I. It's much easier then it sounds."  
  
Himuri nodded. She knew all too well where he was coming from. Toratsuki had been too much a part of their lives and because of that and the fact that Yue's powers had been recently increased so he was still adjusting to the sudden rush, they had been spared the fate of forgetting.  
  
"Alright," Mr. Himino cleared his throat and looked Himuri squarely in the eye, "I'm going to let you go, even though it's against my better judgment, however you can't just wander along aimlessly. I'm going to give you what little magical powers I have. It will open your mind a bit, so brace yourself."  
  
"But what about-?"  
  
There was no time to question further. Her teacher had wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips tightly to her neck. The magic flowed so steadily it was insane. There was a second light that seemed to be turned on in her mind. Her sixth sense was opened to a dimension she was unaware of. It was like another world was opening up and she was very much aware of it all. How could she have missed all this magic pulsing around her, brushing up against her arm, swirling around the very trees themselves? Himuri was so out of it that she nearly missed a limp body slacken and fall t her feet. Her teacher lay on the ground. All the remaining energy vaporized and vanished. Himuri took to her feet so fast she completely forgot that she was still wearing her fuzzy slippers and that Mr. Himino was sill lay face down in the dirt.  
  
The flow of power was all too new for the girl to know how to use. Racing though the woods she had locked herself onto a shiny little point in her minds eye that let a smattering of fine strands of what could only be described as 'follicles of magic' guide her. There was no real point of direction, but running felt good as her mind raced streamline with her feet as a little puppy following its beloved master.  
  
Toya had taken the liberty of sleeping on the couch. With Yuki upstairs sleeping and the other little 'thing' sound asleep, he glared up at the ceiling. No sleep for me, I guess. He thought to himself.  
  
An eye in the darkness opened and shot the older boy out of his drowsy state.  
  
*Bring forth your mighty banner So unto you, I give my hart. My soul cries out to you, And to thee I cast my hart  
  
That song again! Damn, it had arrived!  
  
"And here I thought we'd be having a peaceful night." Toya rolled off the couch and onto the floor, this time he didn't have the broom, but managed to grab a cushion on the couch as he got to his feet. Not a very good weapon. He thought. But it will have to do. After all, it wasn't like he could pick up a chair or something.  
  
*Bring forth your mighty banner So unto you, I give my hart. My soul cries out to you, And to thee I cast my hart  
  
"For the last time, I said get away from him! Toya charged in and smashed in intruder over the head. Clenching her fist, the beast got a good shot in and punched Toya in the gut. Sprawling back, the older boy gasped for the air that had escaped his lungs. This creature was strong, too strong to be even a little natural. Getting up and straining himself out, Toya charged at her.  
  
"You're a glutton for punishment, kid!" Toya lunged at the small creature and smashed his fist just glancing off the side of her cheek. The 'thing' shot back toward the wall. How could Yukito sleep through this?  
  
"That enough for you?" Toya snarled.  
  
The creature jumped at her attacker and slammed him into the bookshelf. A textbook fell and nearly avoided hitting Toya squarely on the head. An idea slowly formed within his aching head and he grabbed the book and slammed the beast over the head with it. A loud thud came from the other side of the room as the creature landed on its back. Hissing as it got up, it vanished into the shadows.  
  
"Good, maybe now I can get to sleep!" Toya scoffed crawling back to the couch. His chest hurt like nothing he'd known in a while and he realized that he just might have a few scratch marks on his face by morning, but he doubted that the 'whatever-it-could-be' would be in better shape. Oh well. Sleep, which had been so far out of his grasp before, was now so close he could have touched it if he had had the strength to lift his hand. 


	10. Fear

Chapter 10: Fear

How interesting fear is. How easily it twists the mind. How silently it creeps, and namelessly uncoils itself in the depths of ones desires.

Toratsuki was walking home the next day. She had watched part of a soccer game at the school, but her attention span was a little short. A part of her could tell there was something following her, but it was hard to tell.

She was tired and there was a mark on her cheek. Toratsuki wasn't sure how it got there, but she was positive that it was just some kind of allergy. Perhaps pollen or the dust from the chalkboard irritated her pale skin.

A punch caught her so off balance the girl cursed inside her head for being so unprotected. She had known secretly that those two boys had followed her to where she usually met Yuki. Now she was early and unprotected!

"You stinking little punk!" Another hit sent her flying into the fence that separated her from the high school grounds.

"Who do you think you are, new kid? You think you can walk around here like you own the place?" The two taunted.

"Yeah, don't you know that you have to pay a fee to come past here?" The other and more stupid looking roughen.

Toratsuki snarled. Outnumbered, alone and her back up against the fence...this was not a good place to be. Fear coursed though her, now what was she to do? There was a side of her that knew the truth. The truth about the mark on her cheek, the truth about what she had to do and she was just grateful to fate that Yukito was not here to see what she was about to do to these two boys. If only she could let her other-self out to fight back.

A punch hit her squarely in the cheek.

Let me do this! She cried inside herself.

No! I mustn't!

Do you want to live?

Do you want Yukito to think you're some sort of freak?

No, but this is life and death!

And this is more then I can bear!

Toya was still wearing his gym uniform when he heard it. The sound of the chain-link fence being shaken. Curious.

Walking over Toya gained the incentive to run.

The girl! Yuki's new 'pet' was in a lot of trouble! Clearing the fence with one stride, Toya landed heavily on the other side.

"Keep your hands off her!" The boy snarled letting the fire in his eyes roll.

The boys turned around and had to stifle a yelp of fear. Taking to their feet the two left with all the speed they had in them.

Toratsuki was still up against the fence trembling, her eyes were closed out of frustration. The magic surrounding her was going haywire, like in a daze. In fear she lashed out at Toya, thinking he was one of her attackers. Catching her fist, he held it gently but firmly so as not to hurt her.

"Daijoubu desu ka?" Are you all right?

The eyes flitted open almost a little too quick. Blinking, Toratsuki realized who was holding her clenched fist.

"Kinomoto-kun?"

"Hai." Yes

Blood was oozing from her nose and she sniffed to try and stop the blood- flow. Toya looked at her with kind eyes as he pulled out his handkerchief and began to gingerly mop out the blood and dirt from her face.

"Who were those boys?"

"I'm not sure."

Toya had guessed them to be bullies and it looked like he was right. Straitening up he looked at the little girl to see if he had forgotten anything. It was then that it had hit him.

Flashback

"I said get away from him!"

End flashback

There was a wound mark near her cheek right about where Toya had lashed out at the creature that had been at Yukito's house. Damnit! How did she get that? Was she-? Could she be-? No! That was ridiculous! Wasn't it?

Yes, it was ridiculous! A sensible side of him said. This kid just got out of a brawl and probably obtained that in the fight.

Yes.

Yes, that had to be it. No need to be so jumpy. Toya rocked back and forth on the thought until he decided to let it rest as it was.

"Here." Toya crouched down to let the girl hop on his back for a ride. After she was on, he had to make sure she wasn't going to slip or fall off. Once they were all set to go, Toya did his best to climb the fence with the added cargo on his back. Needless to say, there were a few times where the boy was so sure he would fall or that his rider would, but the two made it over the fence with enough energy to spare.

"That was fun! Do that again!" The girl pronounced.

"No way. If I try that again I'm gonna have some kind of cardiac arrest!" Toya mocked. He didn't mean the words at all; it was just so fun to toy with the kid.

"I'm not that heavy!" Toratsuki frowned in her own mocking voice.

"Say's you." Toya teased back as he started to walk toward the gym.

"Um....Kinomoto-kun?" "Hai?"

"Can..can we -uh..stop by the-?"

The girl was cut short by a call form another boy across the way from them at the football field.

"Kinomoto-san! Come over here!"

Sighing, Toya turned his head a bit so as to address the girl on his back. "Hold on, this won't take a minute."

Forcing himself into a slow trot, the teen brought himself over to his classmate within ten easy strides.

"Hai?" Yes? He asked.

"Where were you slipping off to? I saw you take off toward the public school and I thought-! Hey..who's the kid?"

"This?" Toya tilted his head to smile oddly back at Toratsuki. "She's Yukito's little sister." What harm could it be to play along? He knew full well that Toratsuki was not Yuki's sibling, but why ruin a good thing, right?

"Tsukishirou-san has a sister?"

That's what I thought. Toya laughed inside himself.

"Yup. Anyhow, you know where he is?"

"Aw, come on, Kinomoto-kun! He's always with you, one would think you two were joined at the hip or something." The boy teased.

"Yeah, well, do you know where he is?"

"I saw him last in the math hall."

"Kay, arigato." Toya said flatly and then took off to find him.

"He's right, you know." Toratsuki squeaked.

"Right about what?"

"Yuki and you are always together."

"Meh." Toya really didn't mind that coming from a little kid, but it made him feel a tad embarrassed coming form a peer.

"It's true! Yuki's always saying 'To-ya says this' or 'To-ya told me that'. I really don't know what he sees in you, Kinomoto-kun." Toratsuki mocked.

Damn, she teases worse then I do! Toya allowed a thin, wry smile to creep across his futures as they went.

Inside the school was cooler then it was outside because of the air conditioning. Toratsuki smiled as they trotted up the stairs. It was a bit late to ask Toya if they could stop off at a bathroom so she could clean herself off a bit better so that she wouldn't make Yuki worry for her.

Suddenly they stopped.

"Nani?" What?

Crouching down so Toratsuki could get off, Toya had stopped them right outside a girl's washroom.

"Go on in. You should clean off your face so Yuki doesn't worry about you.

Mantel note, Toratsuki thought, keep an eye on him.

Just as she went to go in, Akizuki pounced Toya in her own version of a sneak-attack. She had been appearing less and less now that his power was given away, but she had kept up her effort to continue.

"TOYA! HOW ARE YOU? Ididn'tseeyouinthehallsalldaysoIthoughtI'dfindyouwanderingaroundlikethisbutI neverfiguredthatyou'dbeallalonewithout..hey..who's the kid?"

The hyper girl's ramblings stalled to a halt when she saw the little girl who was standing with the girl's room door open.

Trying to be as casual about the topic as was physically possible for him, Toya sighed.

"That's Toratsuki, she's Yukito's sister."

An inexplicable, and icy-cold glare was shot to the little girl and she returned it in full. It was like that for a full five seconds as the two passed the glare on. Toya could feel it too, but said nothing. Akizuki stopped and time plodded on.

"Oh how cute!" The girl hugged Toratsuki and nearly strangled her in the hug.

"Yeah, really adorable." Toya mumbled and tried to play along.

"But what happened to you? Did Tsukishirou-chan get into a fight or something? Here, I'll take you into the girls' room and get you cleaned up!" Cheerfully grabbing the girl's hand and dragging her off Akizuki smiled.

Toya was left with a stunned look form Toratsuki that said 'who is this freak?' and 'help me!' all at the same time. Sighing, he knew there was nothing for it now; he just hoped the pest wouldn't get out of hand.

"So.. how come I haven't seen you around before?" Akizuki pried.

"I was living elsewhere until Yuki had enough money to let me live with him."

"Oh that's sweet. So, how are old are you Tsukishirou-chan? You know, Tsukishirou is a really long name. How about I just call you Tsu Tsu- chan? Is that okay?"

"Um.."

"That's great! So, how old are, TsuTsu-chan?"

"10, but I-."

"Wow, you're the same age as Toya's sister! That's so cool!"

"Uh huh."

After Toratsuki's face was cleaned up and she looked a little less like she had walked out of a fight.

Toya had insisted that he would take Toratsuki, or Tsu-Tsu-chan as Akizuki proceeded to call her, to Yukito, but she had made up her stubborn mind and that was that.

Walking into the math room, they found Yuki helping to clear off the chalkboard and pack up his bags both at the same time.

Akizuki greeted the other boy dully and tried to cling to Toya's arm. Toratsuki herself had decided to put at least a few meters of distance between the possessive teen and her by hiding behind Yuki. Every now and then was spent poking her head around Yukito to see if she was still there.

"Tsu-Tsu and I really got alone well, didn't we kiddo?" She smiled all too kindly for Toratsuki's taste but she had no choice but to play along.

Not human not human!

He mind was pulsing with that burdening thought of 'not human' and it frightened her.

Creepy. She thought. The train station was smattered with 'threads' of magic. Some old, some new and many fading out altogether. 'Looking' around with her inner eye, she was relived to find something that 'felt' like Toratsuki. Casting her mind back to the day that she had helped her class mate home, Himuri remembered how cool and almost cold her skin had felt to her touch. Almost like melting ice. She thought. Yes, exactly like ice melting in the springtime sunlight.

Search for the ice. A voice called out to her from the back of her mind. That is her personal 'feel' and you must follow it. Everyone had a personal 'feel'. Kind of like a signature or thumbprint, except it was magic and it was a little stronger then a signature. Locking her not-all-too-high level of magic on the feel of melting ice inside her skull and let her mind lead her.

Walking up to the ticket booth, Himuri asked for a ticket. Waiting for her train to come in, she strained her mind to search for Toratsuki's 'feel' for as far as her magic could touch. It was not a usual magic, like having received blood from a donor the magic was having a bit of a side affect on the girl. Her eyes were heavy with sleep and she knew that it wasn't just from getting up early that morning. The magic was definitely getting to her, but she seemed to be doing all right. As she sat there, the little girl, who was still wearing her fuzzy slippers, started to mumble a little song she had remembered from a long time ago. She was sure she had heard one of the other students sing it somewhere on the way home or for the quire, but it was hard to remember.

There is a bright light beyond my tears and I will follow. Bring to me all you have to offer And I will follow thee.

If I were to answer you About how the flowers grow Or what makes the earth turn so I would say it would have to be you.

Open my eyes that I might see beyond my tears And into your light. Sing for me, never hurt for me Tell me you love me and I will follow thee.

If I were to answer you About how the flowers grow Or what makes the earth turn so I would say it would have to be you.

Stupid tune got stuck in her head before she had a chance to finish.

The train.

Funny how she knew it was there before it came in. There were many strands of magic closed inside and Himuri 'tugged' on Toratsuki's thread to assure her hold on the melting ice in the back of her head. When she stood up as the doors of the train opened a burst of flooding magic stepped out and washed over her like a Tsunami. Grasping her thread tightly so as not to loose it in the waves of other feelings. Some like burning leaves; others like ripping faucets and more still like a midsummer's breeze. Not all were strong enough to be active or even to make sense, but they could still be 'felt'. Clinging like a little girl to the string of a balloon, Himuri walked onto the train and sat. She found it easier to concentrate on Toratsuki's thread if she was sitting prior to when she stood up.

As the train took off toward the city, Himuri leaned back and clutched the thread in the back of her mind tightly as she drifted off to sleep.


	11. Ice

Chapter 11: Ice

So cold, so far and so distant. Ice reaches it's claws out into the morning and creeps across the land like a dove. Gracefully and as silent as its summon. Its minions dancing across the windows with their spindly fingers and webbed faces.

How long have I been sleeping?

Toratsuki realized that she had drifted off at her desk and was now laying facedown on her math homework.

Damn. She thought. Looking over at the clock she realized that it was eight o'clock at night and the sun was far from after sundown. The light was gone from the sky and only the light of the moon lit the tiny room now. Rubbing the grogginess from her eyes, Toratsuki looked out the window at the semi- full moon. Not too long before the moon would be full and it would begin to wane away for the new one.

There was a pool of the collective light that had formed itself near the vaguely open window. It was a little cold and a slight breeze whisked its way into the room causing an uncomfortable shutter of shivers to slide down her spine.

The pool was interrupted by a figure who slipped into the way of the gentle rays.

"Well, well, well. It would seem Yukito's little 'pet' has seemed to make itself comfortable."

Turning around slowly, Toratsuki's real form was shown and her ice-like eyes shot a dirty look at the intruder. The long pinkish-red hair was tied up on either side of her head and the long robes reached down to the ground. Her wings were like butterflies except they looked a lot more dangerous in black and pink then a natural butterflies' would.

"Who are you to barge into Yue-sama's house? This is his home, you should leave now."

"Tut, tut. Such harsh words for such a low magic level, hmm? You should watch your tongue, brat. Besides, why do you smell like moon centered magic? I must say it suits you."

"That is none of your concern. Now I will ask you one more time to remove yourself from Yue-sama's house, or I'll remove you myself!"

"Temper, temper! There's no need to be hostile, little one. My, my you do have a sharp tongue. Now why don't you tell me why you're following Yue and his happy, little false-form around like some kind of lost puppy?"

The figure bent down at the waist and glared a wry smirk at the creature. Toratsuki's enraged eyes locked on and glared back.

" If you mean to harm him I will have to eliminate you form this place immediately, however I'd like to know the name of this hostility."

"Ruby moon. You'd be best to remember that name, little one." With that the being took to her butterfly wings and the pool of moonlight was returned to its untouched state.

"Damn...things just got....way too complicated." Toratsuki muttered as she casually brushed her brown bangs out of her face.

Footsteps!

Her cat-like ears twitched and she knew someone was coming. Toya was still here! Darn it all! He could not be allowed to see her true form! Toratsuki panicked for a moment and then relaxed and allowed her ears to hide themselves.

The door opened with a bit of a groan, as it needed to be oiled. The older, darker-haired boy poked his head in. Trying to muster up the most of a confused look as she could, Toratsuki was now as the little girl that Toya had always seen her to be.

"Thought I heard something." The boy mumbled.

Excellent! With his magic gone he's clueless! Toratsuki cheered her good luck on with a mental 'Yay' and yet another mental pat-on-the-back. Damn, luck was with her tonight!

"Nope…no one here."

Toya shrugged, mainly to himself, and then took his leave.

Phew.

Too close.

Yes. I know it was.

You nearly let him see you! And with his low mental power too!

I know. I'm sorry.

I cannot afford this to happen again!

Toratsuki argued with herself as she rolled over the scene in her head to make sure she was in no danger of being discovered.

I know. I'm sorry.

That was all she could think of at the moment. Looking over at the cot in the corner of the room, she got herself ready for sleep. She would need all the rest she could muster. There was school tomorrow and math would have to be done with Yuki in the morning. Letting the soft sheets slide over her until they covered her head, the girl poked her face out from under the blankets to rake her vision over the room. Slowly …cautiously, she let the shield drop and run off her skin like colorless water. Her real ears could be seen, and her real eyes too. Cuddling the panda toy close to her chest letting its cool material brush against her exposed arms. Sleep wrapped its clothed arms around the girl and its tangled digits coddled the little girl. Her ears twitched as the sweet, sweet kiss of drowsiness took her in its lips and let the down of its seducing feathers provoke her heart.

Toya felt a timid shutter rupture down his spine.

Damn!

If only he could 'feel' more! No, that would be selfish of him. To wish for what he had accepted to give away. Full well had he known this would happen and he would be powerless. That was what he had chosen and come flood or fire or even hell itself...that was his decision as it lay.

Yukito yawned in content. It was late. He knew it was, but his mental sleep was deeper then he could muster to fight against and so he said nothing. That kind of sleep that you get when on your mind no longer functions on anything else but what it's dreaming about, that was what held him so. Like walking through molasses or a thick, oozing bog. Toya was trapped in it and may as well have fallen fully asleep there and then, but he held the cord of consciousness fast in his grip no matter how deeply it cut into his hand.

"To-ya?"

Thank you!

The voice was like another hand to lead him out of his own mental turbulence.

"Yeah?" Looking at the boy that sat across from him at the table. He was practically buried in math pages and notes. Stacking a few into somewhat orderly piles, Toya tried to make himself somewhat useful.

"Sorry...I just dosed off there. What is it?" He asked again, trying to stay awake. Fighting to stay awake. Longing to stay awake. Struggling... all to stay awake.

"You look tired. Do you want to stay here tonight? It's too late to ride your bike home."

Yes.

Yes.

This was good. Stay here and protect his best friend from the thing that lurked within this house. This house that both knew was just an illusion. Perhaps the thing was too.

Wishful thinking.

Toya knew that the voice in the back of his head was right. Wishful thinking indeed. Huh, the sting in his left arm was still enough to prove it. Something had thrown him up against the wall last night, and that was not a thing he had just imagined. Couldn't have been. Mustn't have been.

Himuri was walking now. Out of the train station. The town that she had tracked Toratsuki's 'feel' to was right here. All over here. Her 'feel' of melting ice was pawing at the streets and glistening over the roads and sidewalks where she had been. Like a fingerprint.

Walking along, she knew that she was truly in trouble now. Where would she stay? Where would she go from here? The sun would rise soon, and she knew it had been a day or two since she had left home. Her parents would be so worried.

Never mind that!

The little voice snapped. True, this was her path, and her path it would stay. There was no way she would turn back now! No way at all! This was all or nothing as they said in her romance novels.

That's right, all or nothing!


	12. Sliding

Chapter 12: Sliding  
  
When you feel all alone, and world has turned his back on you. Gimme a moment please to tame your wild, wild hart- Savage Garden *Crash and Burn  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
That's what Kero had said.  
  
"Yup." Sakura answered.  
  
It had been a few days since the conversation, but Sakura felt no better about it.  
  
"That would be physically impossible. This thing must be some kind of spirit that latched itself onto Yue's false form." Kero announced.  
  
"I couldn't feel much magic oh her. Li could, but I didn't at first." She admitted.  
  
"I should talk to Yue about this, but in the mean time I'd like to meet this kid."  
  
Now, as Sakura walked away from the empty classroom she could still remember the Guardians' words. What did he mean, meet her? That would mean that Toratsuki might find out about her! Well, she did already know about Yue, but that was a little different, wasn't it?  
  
Opening her cubby casually the Card Master was ambushed.  
  
"HI, SAKURA!"  
  
"KERO!" Slamming her free hand over her mouth out of shock from her scream, Sakura looked around to make sure no one had discovered them. Satisfied she took her hand away from her lips and whispered in a harsh voice, "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to see this kid that hangs around Yue, so, where is she?"  
  
"Are you crazy?" The girl stopped to look around. Good, on one was there. "You can't wander around the school, someone'll see you."  
  
"Relax, Sakura! You worry too much. Now where's this kid?"  
  
"In room 1-B. She's still copying down the math note. You'll have plenty of time, she takes so long to copy notes from the board."  
  
Kero was off before Sakura could finish. Deciding that it was better to stay here then to follow him, the girl started on her homework as she waited.  
  
* * *  
  
Toratsuki was only on the second line of the note. Damn! It always took her so long! Why couldn't she be like the other children and breeze through this instead of having to stay after class just to get a four-line note taken down?  
  
It won't write itself.  
  
The little voice said from the back of her head.  
  
True. But wouldn't that be nice? Notes that wrote themselves.  
  
As Kero opened the door to the room enough for him to flutter in, the noise alerted the student.  
  
"Yuki, I'm almost done! I'll be out in a min-!" Looking up, eager to see the boy with a similar magical pulse as the one that had entered the room, she was disappointed. No one. Strange, she could 'feel' them. Even with her low level.  
  
Oh well.  
  
Deciding to ignore it, she went back to the tedious note.  
  
The door slid shut and Toratsuki put her pencil down.  
  
"Who's there?" She asked with a tinge of fear lacing her voice. What if it were some kind of invisible monster sent to rip her lungs apar-?  
  
Kero flew up and landed on her desk. The small orange-furred Guardian beast perched gingerly on the paper as he looked up at her with the little beady eyes.  
  
"Hiya."  
  
Toratsuki stifled a laugh and calmed her senses. At least it wasn't a huge monster. She thought in a relived tone.  
  
"I'm sorry. I just figured..with your magical pulse so high, I expected you to be bigger." She explained.  
  
Kero smiled. "And with yours so low I expected you to be smaller." He joked. The little girl sighed.  
  
"This isn't mine, you know."  
  
"It suits you." The false form flattered.  
  
Blushing, the girl brushed her bangs of musty brown hair back.  
  
"You know, this is just a temporary look for me." Kero confirmed, hoping to get something out of her. Then deciding he aught to coax it out of her.  
  
"I'm guessing this is for you too."  
  
"Yes," She admitted, "But I would like to be rid of it. I hate to hide myself behind this veil. I'd rather people except me for who I am, but I know that with a true form like mine, I may as well stop dreaming now."  
  
Kero looked sad and his little wings drooped in sorrow.  
  
"So, tell me. Why do you hang around Yue so much?"  
  
"How do you know Yue-sama?"  
  
"Sama, huh? That's the first time I've ever heard anyone refer to him like that." He admitted. "I was created by the same person, Clow Read."  
  
"He saved my life a long time ago, so I stay with him. He alone has understood what it is like to live behind a curtain for fear of the real world."  
  
Kero nodded. "I can understand that."  
  
Toratsuki looked at him oddly. "You're here because of Kinomoto-chan, aren't you?"  
  
Kero froze. She knew! Damn! Her nose for magic was good, which was more then he could say for her math skills.  
  
"Yes, but I don't need to tell her any details if you want." Better for him to know then for Sakura to worry about it. Hoping to play his cards right the little guardian flew off the desk and tried to put idle chitchat behind them both.  
  
"Look, I would be flattered if I could see your true form. So I'll make you a deal, we'll both shed our fusel forms and show one another our true selves, alright?" Sounded reasonable, but would she take it?  
  
"You first." She said dryly.  
  
"I would feel more comfortable if we both transformed at once." He tried.  
  
"You mean that you want to be sure I won't attack while your venerable." She corrected, "I can assure you that I have more morals then that."  
  
Kero looked a little unsure. Morals, huh? How was he to be sure?  
  
"I still would like it if we both went at the same time." He stated flatly.  
  
Sighing, Toratsuki knew she had lost this battle and decided that it was useless to keep going with it.  
  
"Suit yourself."  
  
"Good."  
  
The two let their wings cover them in a feathered cocoon, Toratsuki's, however, was transparent. Yue's magic slid over her and her illusion fell like tattered streams of water as they washed away. Her ears, pointed and white perked up and the symbol of the moon was visible now. Her tail uncoiled itself from around her one leg as if it were ivy clinging to a pillar. Her eyes were closed but inside the center formed a sharp slit, like a cat's eye and a drop of amethyst worked its way through the icy-blue of her iris.  
  
Kero, inside his own cocoon, was changing too. The chibi wings lengthened and his tail grew out. The paws became massive and each nail grew out of the pads like sickles on a scythe. A mettle helmet covered his skull and a shining red gem grew out of it. His ears shrunk back and shaped out a bit to look more lion-like. His muzzle grew out and two dark lines grew from the tip of his nose to the ends of his eyes.  
  
Both the beasts' wings lifted like a veil to reveal the true forms of the beings inside. Toratsuki looked a little embarrassed as her robes were a bit big for her and compared to Keroberos she didn't look as elegant.  
  
"I must admit, that magic pulse of yours, no matter how week, does suit you." Keroberos commented.  
  
Toratsuki turned a light scarlet as she blushed. Brushing back her bangs she lifted her head for the Guardians' inspection. He looked her over from head to toe. Yes, this magic did justice to her sex and her body.  
  
"Now I can honestly believe your pulse." She smiled. "Your smaller form denies you."  
  
Keroberos purred at the positive feedback. "Thank you. Now tell me, why is it that your wings are diminishing?" Part of him knew the answer, but better to get a full response then a presumption of his own hart. As he looked, Toratsuki flexed the smaller wings that would have been bigger had the main body of the feathers had still been attached. They were gone leaving the smaller, less useful feathers to make a shabby looking patch of slightly transparent wings.  
  
"Soon the days of my illusions will be over." She smiled bluntly to herself.  
  
"I fail to understand what you're getting at." Keroberos responded flatly admitting his loss for common ground.  
  
"I've been trying to give Yue-sama his power back, but I am interrupted by a boy who is always in my way."  
  
"Yuki?"  
  
"No, another. Taller, darker hair, and perhaps physically stronger then Yukito. If he continues to stop me, I may need to eliminate him from the problem."  
  
Kero was still not too sure who she was talking about. Surely Sakura's older brother would recognize the swap of power and so it must not be him. Besides, he had his power almost completely, didn't he? Yue might have left him just enough so the boy might not be completely paralyzed or impaired for life, but..how much had he been left with? Had Yue taken all of the power then Kinomoto Toya would be dead. If he had taken almost all, the boy would be in a coma for life. A little less then that and Toya could have been physically impaired forever. So that left only enough for him to be able to move as he used to be able to. Still..was that enough to sniff out magic? Even a magic level as low as hers? Kero could 'feel' her well enough, but Toya? Surely not.  
  
Toya was woken yet again to the song that taunted his restless mind.  
  
*Bring forth your mighty banner So unto you, I give my hart. My soul cries out to you And to thee I cast my hart  
  
Damn! Again? This had got to stop here and now!  
  
The only thing close to hand was a math text and Toya hoped his teacher would realize just how useful math could be.  
  
"GET AWAY!"  
  
The textbook swished inches for her skull nearly missing her pointy ears.  
  
Snarling at Toya she hissed and did something the boy didn't expect. Leaping through the air toppled the boy to the floor with a loud 'thump'. Toya held her back from trying to stop her from punching him in the face. Deciding that he had had about enough, the boy brought one of his knees under the girl and reflexively kicked her off. Landing on her backside, the entity rubbed her sore spot and disappeared into the night before Toya's last-ditch-attempt-mat-book hit two millimeters from her feet.  
  
"I'm just sorry I'll never be able to tell my teacher that he was right about using math in my every-day life." Toya scowled as he retreated his book. Another part of him was just happy that Yuki could sleep though just about anything. As he attempted to make his way back to his position on the couch, Toya realized something. Toratsuki, Yuki's little pet, had been left alone with that creepy thing running around feasting on magic.  
  
Poking his head into the room, he found the girl sleeping in her bed. Walking over to her, he looked around to make sure that the what-ever-it- was was not in the vicinity. A pale, puddle of moonlight streamed in through the window like lace as Toya's shadow disturbed it.  
  
Good. The girl was sleeping well. However, her breath was heavy, unusual for a sleeping person. Oh well, probably a dream. Toya left and went back to his place on the couch, math book in hand, ready for another rude awakening. 


	13. Realizations

Chapter 13: Realizations

There are things in life that don't always make a whole lot of sense. Give it a while and a lot of thought and sometimes you get the answer. However, realizing the truth about people is a much harder matter.

Toya had been invited to Yukito's house for the day. It was a brighter weekend then he had imagined it could have been because the weatherman on the radio had reported rain.

Oh well, he thought, when were they ever right?

Something that day had upset Toya's uneasy mind. Not something that he had openly worried about, but it was a little nagging feeling that something was going to happen.

Nerves.

That was probably it. Just nerves. The weekend was here and he needed a break for once. With all these late night attacks it was a wonder he ever got sleep.

That afternoon, Yuki was making a salad with some fresh vegetables he had bought and Toya was left to make some sandwiches with the left over lettuce and some ham.

A creeping suspicion was scurrying up his back and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Toratsuki herself seemed a little on edge. Yuki was still smiling, but Toya figured Yue was a little up tight too, because he caught a few glimpses of Yue's ice-amethyst blue iris slither across his coffee brown.

"Brace yourself, Sakura! Something's coming up fast!" Kero yelled to warn his mistress.

"What-?"

It came without warning. It came across the land sweeping its pulse like a rush of thunder and hail all at once.

Something shattered the world with a defining boom. Toya found himself falling toward the ground in a flaming pain. Just before he blacked out he realized that he wasn't the only one who was headed for the ground. The little girl and Yukito were also on their way to the floor. As he fell, Toya realized that the snow bunny had dragged his hands across the counter taking half the bowls, pans and pots down with him

NO!

Reaching out his hand to catch the falling mettle, something swished past him and smashed the falling pans away managing to just nick the palm of his hand. A flash of feathers flew through the air and a tail swished passed Toya's line of clouded vision before all gave way to darkness.

What felt like a few seconds past through the coarse of fifteen minutes before Toya woke up. Getting shakily to his feet he rubbed his head and looked around him. The first think he noticed was the feathers on the ground. These down reeked of moon-centered magic. Looking immediately to his best friend, Toya realized they weren't his feathers that were on the ground, and he sighed with relief. His eyes followed the trail over to the girl! Toratsuki was lying on the ground with the pan and pots not too far from her! Toya gasped and rushed to the small crumpled body of Yuki's 'pet'. She was unconscious from the magical blast that had shaken all three of them.

Carefully, the teen tried to pull the creature back into reality. A little whimper of pain shot through the tiny girl and her eyes snapped open! But the strange thing that frightened the boy was that these were not Toratsuki's eyes, or were they? The icy-blue eyes glared at him. They were cat like and Toya nearly yelped in shock. Quickly, he began to bandage the girl's hand and mop up the blood. Turning to his friend, he scooped him up in his arms and tried to wake him.

"Yuki? Yuki, wake up." Shaking him gently, he tried to stir the sleeping boy. No luck, he was lost to the world.

Getting up he hoisted Yukito's limp body onto his back and draped him softly over himself so that he wouldn't fall.

Laying Yukito on the couch, he placed the girl in a chair and sat down near the two of them. That flash of feathers he had seen was the figure that had stopped the metal cooking equipment from hitting Yuki and causing him pain. But when he had woken up, the junk was near the girl's hand as if she had been the one to save them both with the last of her strength. But that couldn't be right. Toratsuki couldn't have been the creature that had come by night to try to take Yukito's powerful life force, could she? It made sense, the eyes he had seen and the fact that she clamed to be Yukito's sister just to get close enough to kill him. It all made sense now! Getting up, Toya scooped up the girl and brought her over to the other side of the room and started to wake her.

"Wake up, I know what you are!" Shaking her still body, Toya was furious with the little creature. The icy eyes snapped open again and she lashed out at her supposed attacker, managing to dislocate his jaw. Recovering enough to snap his jaw back together, Toya pinned the girl to the ground and glared at her.

"Who are you? I know you want to kill him! Answer me!"

"Kill him?" The soft voice repeated dumbly. "Why in the name of all that is good would I want to do that? It seems to be you who would wish him dead."

SMACK

Toya hit hard. There was no one looking and he didn't have to be afraid to hold back.

"How dare you say that? I would never-!"

"Then why do you stop me from giving back what belongs to him?"

"What?"

"Yue gave me his power a long time ago to save my life from humans realizing what I really am, and so now I give that power back."

"So, you weren't trying to kill him?"

"Never! I would never kill the one who saved my life!"

Toya let the girl up. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea. Please, show me your true form."

"It would be an honor to shed this hologram for once and be free." The illusion dropped just as heavily as the pots and pans. The white tail appeared and her ears became like the cat ears he had seen. The eyes were replaced with the cat's eyes. There before Toya stood a winged creature that looked not too far from human, but the hologram was justified.

"So, we finally meet on like terms."

"Yes. I apologize for accusing you of wishing his death."

"What's your story?"

"Yukito and Yue saved my life and have looked after me. Showing me love that this world could never give."

Toya nodded. "I can understand that."

"Yukito didn't run when he saw me. He didn't scream. He loved me which was much more then anything anyone had ever done for me."

"So your illusion is why I could scenes the magic on you."

"Yes. I have been trying to give it back. These wings are not mine, but the magic he has given me in a physical form. I will miss flying, but for his sake I will gladly give it up." Walking over to the boy on the couch, she sat down beside him and pressed her hand to his cheek. The feathers began to fly off the wings and the wings themselves disappeared into nothingness.

Bring forth your mighty banner

So unto you, I give my hart.

My soul cries out to you

And to thee I cast my hart

The room went dark and the feathers began to glow a yellowy color. The down materialized when they touched Yukito, and he too began to glow. Toya looked on in disbelief. Then, just as the wings were almost gone, and all that was left were little stubs, she let go and walked over to Toya.

"I understand you gave him your power to save his life?"

"Yes."

"And in doing so you sacrificed your own special ability for him?"

"Yes. I can no longer sense things as well as I could have. I can only feel the presence of magic brush my skin where it would have filled me entirely."

"I see. I have given him enough for him to live, and then some. As I gave away my wings, I made a decision. You gave your powers to him without thinking twice, for that I thank you. However, I think I can give you back something you have been lacking for some time. It will not be all of your strength, but enough to make up for the loss. Promise me you will not misuse my powers, for I could just as easily give it back to its owner, but I think he would rather you have it."

"I promise. I will not misuse what you give me."

"Do you swear? Do you swear to keep him safe?"

"If it were not for you, Yukito would have been badly hurt about now if you didn't save him. I will protect my best friend form harm but only on one condition?"

"And that is?"

"That you stay here and aid us. Yukito has been lonely in this house alone and I know with you around he will have someone to be with and to talk to when I'm away."

"I see. Very well, I understand and I agree to your terms. You will look out for him when I'm not there, and I will look out for him when you can't be there, is that all? Or is there something more?"

"Yes."

"Well?"

"Keep enough to keep yourself safe."

"What do you mean?"

"I think you shouldn't be forced to stay inside all your life just because you gave away your only defense. Keep enough of that magic to protect yourself and to pretend to be normal."

"But then that is still pretending."

"In a way all of us are still pretending."

"I see."

"Do you agree?"

"Yes. All right. But you do realize there will be only a little bit of magic for you to absorb?"

"Yes."

"And this is alright with you?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Are you ready? This could make you feel strange."

Putting a hand to Touya's cheek she began the song again.

Bring forth your mighty banner

So unto you, I give my hart.

My soul cries out to you

And to thee I cast my hart

Toya felt alive, and yet tired at the same time. He could see the feathers going into him. His body felt warm and like he was sinking into a warm mist of bliss. Then, it was over. He opened his eyes to see the limp body drop to the floor in a state of sleep. Touya caught the tiny form and cradled the little thing close to him. The illusions were gone, and he could feel a bit of his magical powers returned. He could faintly 'feel' where Sakura was and he knew where the Brat was too. Even Yuki, he could feel out with his mind.

"Thank you. I had almost forgotten what it was like to see the things no one else could. Thank you."

Of coarse she couldn't hear him, but it felt good to say. Getting to his feet, Toya laid the girl beside Yukito and started to race around the house laughing and jumping around like an excited ten year-old.

He had his powers back!

Not all of them, but this was good enough! Yes, this was definitely good enough. Reaching out with his mind, he felt his way around to find the source of the blast. Nothing......nothing......nothing.

Darn it all!

There was no trace of anything. Not a thing! Maybe he wasn't ready yet, maybe it took some time for his fried sixth scenes to recover, and maybe the threat was gone. No that was too good to be true. Suddenly, there was a bit more detail. The rest of the magic sunk in and Touya could 'feel' more of the town. Faintly, but it was good enough. There was Sakura, the Brat, and Sakura's stuffed toy. Yukito, the lady down the street and the little girl..........Nothing. No, she wouldn't. No, she would not have broken the promise! Racing back to the girl he picked up her limp body and shook her gently.

"Come on, come on! Wake up! Open your eyes, damn it!"

Nothing. The girl was silent and still. She felt warm and slightly feverish. Toya reached out with his mind and felt his way around for her magical pulse, but there was none. Nothing. She had given him all of the power! Even the magic she would use for the illusions! No, she promised she wouldn't!

"But then that is still pretending."

That's what she had said. Still pretending. She wanted to be herself for the rest of her life without hiding behind the veil.

"Why? Why did you do that? You said you wouldn't give that much up!" Carrying her to the bedroom, he lay the child down in Yukito's bed and went to get a thermometer. As soon as he was sure the instrument was done measuring her temperature, he glanced at the numbers. One seventy-nine! She was burning up fast. Placing the thermometer in his pocket for easy reference, he scooped her back up and ran downstairs. Holding the kid in one arm and picking up the phone in the other, Toya dilled up for an ambulance.

"Hello? I need an ambulance, please. What? What's the emergency? My friend's sister is-." Looking down at Toratsuki he realized what a stupid mistake he had made. He couldn't very well tell the operator that his best friend's not-so-human 'pet' was burning up with a fever now could he?

"Never mind. My mistake." Hanging up, Toya sighed and ran the kid back up stars. Placing her on the bed, he decided to call the one man he knew who could help.

"Dad? Hi, it's Toya. I need some help. I'm at Yukito's house and I think you should come over."


	14. Willing

Chapter 14: Willing

If you truly care about someone or something then you will guard it with everything you have, even if that means your own life.

"Sakura, you okay?" Keroberos asked urgently as his mistress shook her mind into the real world.

"Everything alright?" He asked as she took shakily too her feet.

"I think so. How about you? Anything broken?" Sakura looked the Guardian up and down to be sure that he too was perfectly all right. Once fully satisfied, she backed off a bit and let the Guardian have his space.

"I feel fine," Kero insisted, "my mind's a little frazzled, but I'll live."

"What was that?"

"I'm not sure, but it sure smarts. We should head over to see how Yue is faring. You're brother is there too. And there's that girl-?" Kero prodded

"Let's go."

Downstairs her father was on the phone. Keroberos was hiding at the top of the stars to avoid being seen at all.

"What's wrong? Is everything okay?" Fujitaka spoke worriedly into the

"Not really. It's a long story, just get here as fast as you can." Toya spoke difficulty into the phone that was propped between his chin and shoulder. Holding onto the unconscious child in his arms, his mind raced around itself – trying to vigorously decide itself.

"I'll be right there," hanging up the phone he turned to Sakura, "I have to go to Yukito's house. Stay here, I'll call you before I head home."

As her father grabbed his coat he waved to his daughter as he closed the door behind himself.

Waiting for a few minutes to be sure her father wouldn't walk back in or over hear their conversation, Sakura turned toward the stairs and called up, "You can come down now, Kero! Dad's gone."

"Sounds like we'll be staying put for a while." He muttered in the deep, gravely voice.

"Yup. Looks like." Sakura sighed.

"What should we do?"

"I'm not sure. I think, just for now, we should stay here incase dad calls." She said as they walked into the kitchen. The two settled themselves down to wait for their chance to get out of the house.

The knock on the door nearly made the boy jump out of his skin. Opening Yukito's front gate he found his father standing there waiting for an explanation.

"Come on in."

As the two walked in, Fujitaka got a look at Yukito lying, almost lifelessly on the couch, and he grabbed Toya's arm in worry.

"What happened here?! Is he alright?"

"Yes, it's not him, Yukito's 'pet' is the one who needs our help."

"He has a pet?"

Toya told his father about the whole ordeal and about his powers returning and of how Toratsuki broke her promise.

"I see. Well, let's have a look." Just before he walked into the bedroom, Toya stopped him.

"I need to let you know something. She's not a human, that's why I couldn't call a doctor."

"But Yukio isn't ether and-." The man tried to prove.

"You don't understand. Yuki looks like a human, Toratsuki-." Toya let his father into the room and the man gasped. His glasses slid a bit down his face. There on the bed was a girl no younger then Sakura, but just a bit smaller. Her pointy cat ears twitched and her tail was limp on the bed. Her slightly clawed fingers were covered in sweat like her face. On her forehead was a symbol of the moon that Yue had given her. Her sides heaved with strife and her body looked frail.

"I don't know why you called me, Toya. I'm not sure I can do anything."

"Please, Dad. You have to!"

Fujitaka sighed and rubbed his face. "Alright, alright. Get me some water, a cloth and a thermometer."

Passing the thermometer to his father, Toya ran out of the room to get the stuff he asked for. Arriving back with a basin of icy water and a cloth he gave it to him.

"Good. Now I need you to sit there quietly and let me work."

"Kay."

Toya sat over by the wall while Fujitaka applied the cold cloth to her head. Within a few hours her temperature went down a bit, but not enough to make a real difference. Toya's father checked the bandages on her hand and cleaned out the cut to avoid infection.

"Alright, we need something for her to eat. Can you get some oranges or something like that for her? The citrus will do her system some good. "

Toya nodded and left to get some. On the way he stopped over at Yukito's side to see if he was up or not. After a while of gently shaking his friend he decided not. Hoisting the boy onto his back he draped him over himself so that he would open the door when he went in without wasting time. When he got back, Fujitaka looked up and saw Yukito's limp body that was flung like some kind of rag doll over his son's back.

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah. The blast shook us all. Yuki was the worst out of all three of us; his power is higher so it hurt him more. He'll wake up soon, it's just a mater of time."

Nodding, Fujitaka was confident in his son's intuition. "Alright, well, heaven knows there's enough room on the bed for him beside the girl, so put him down before you throw out your back."

"He's not that heavy at all, actually." More like a little bird or a kitten, Toya mentally decided.

His father laughed and Toya slowly put his friend on the bed beside Toratsuki. Something inside the creature sensed his hart beat and she snuggled up to his limp body as if he were a teddy bear or her stuffed panda toy.

"That's cute." He said.

Toya rolled his eyes and laughed a little. Then getting a glare in his eye, he walked over and lifted Yukito's lifeless arm and slung it over the girl so it looked like he was hugging her in his sleep.

"Now that is cute."

"That's cruel, Toya!" His father laughed.

A few murmurs drifted from the girl as she clutched Yukito's shirt in her fists. Burrowing herself deeper into him, she began to suck her thumb quietly.

"How old is she?"

"I'm not sure, but she's in Sakrua's class."

"Right about now it looks like she's only three."

"Maybe she is at hart." Toya offered. 'Her age varies with her mood. She seems very lonely without him."

"Do you think that's why she followed him home?"

"Yes. Yuki's such a forgiving person and because he's so nice to little kids she must have taken a liking to him. Like a puppy following a boy home after he feeds it. She said he saved her life."

"Do you think it's true?"

"Probably. Yuki seems to have a way of getting to the right place at the right time. Besides, there's no real reason for her to lie about that." Toya mused.

Yukito tensed a bit and opened his eyes slightly, letting them roll back in a painful sleep. Suddenly the wings shot from his back and Yue lay on the bed where Yukito had been.

Damn it all!

Touya hadn't told his father everything about that yet. Fujitaka, who had never met Yue in his life, yelped a little, but soon regained himself.

"What is going on here? Where did that blast come from?" Yue demanded as he got coldly to his feet.

"I can't find the source." Toya shrugged.

Yue scowled and looked down at Toratsuki. Picking her up he ran his fingers through her sweaty, cobweb-like hair.

"Who is this? Oh yes, 'he' knows you. Kinomoto Fujitaka." Yue asked, as he looked Fujitaka over.

The man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as they threatened to escape him.

"Good to meat you......uhh?"

"Yue." He said as neutrally as possible. Having never met the man like this, it was quite awkward.

Looking down at the little being in his arms, Yue shifted the conversation.

"Why is she in such pain?"

Toya relayed everything to Yue and the guardian nodded.

"So that is why I feel my power increasing. Huh, too bad, though. The illusions were a good mask. Almost like 'he' is a good mask. But then, hiding is still hiding, isn't it?"

"There's a difference though, between Yukito and the illusions." Toya corrected.

"I know, but it is all the same when you break it down." Passing Toratsuki to Fujitaka, Yue stretched out his hand and let the magic flare over like a blue flame of light. The man stared and Yue brought out his full strength.

"Yes, I know you are afraid Kinomoto-kun. I am not like the innocent little one who hides me. I am my own person and so is he." Turning to Toya he let his wings vanish to make more room in the space they had.

Fujitaka looked a little wary about the new character that had entered his life, but he calmed a little and regained composure.

"I should go soon. My mistress could be in danger." Leaving the two behind, Yue flew off and went to find Sakura and Keroberos.

"When do you think your father will be coming back?" Kero pried.

"I've no idea." Sakura said bluntly.

The guardian sighed and the waiting game continued. Just as Kero was about to go back up stars to play his videogames, Yue walked in like a sudden breeze.

"WHY CAN'T YOU NOCK LIKE THE REST OF US?!" The beast hollered.

"Yue!" Sakura smiled at the sight of her afore mentioned guardian.

"The back door was open."

"You could nock!" Kero muttered.

"How is everyone at Yukito's house?"

"Fine, whatever created that blast is long gone."

"That's a relief. You should get back to Yukito's house. My big brother probably could use a hand and Toratsuki's with you too, isn't she?" Sakura smiled.

"Yes."

"I think you have some explaining to do about that girl. She's not exactly who she thinks she is, is she Yue?" Kero said in a more serious tone then Sakura cared for.

"That is my business alone, Keroberos, but I will explain her situation in full to you at another time."

"Before you go, did she give you back what was yours?"

"Yes. Toya too has received what was left of that power to help him along."

"You mean my brother has magic again?" Sakura demanded.

"Yes. A very small portion of his power has returned to him."

"Thank you, Yue." Sakura smiled kindly and blushed a bit.

"So then, her illusions are gone now?" Kero asked.

"Yes."

"Shame really." Kero said.

"Yes, it is." Yue confirmed.

"You should go back and help Toya." Sakura said.

Nodding, the guardian took his leave as silently as when he came.


	15. Trapped

Chapter 15: Trapped  
  
Caged is such a romantic word. Too beautiful and slick for what it describes. To be trapped or imprisoned is a horrible fait. To spend day after day looking at the same four walls and to never be able to abscond.  
  
Toratsuki woke slowly and shifted herself on the bed. There was no one left in the room as Toya and Fujitaka had gone downstairs to wait for Yue's arrival. Breathing as deeply as she could, the being realized how different the fragrant air felt on her cheek. The window was open. When did this transpire?  
  
Oh well.  
  
Rubbing her aching head, she went to confirm what she was already very sure of.  
  
Trying to spread her mental, magic-bound, ice like claws she realized that her grasp was gone.  
  
"All gone-." She whispered and let gravity guide her form to the bed.  
  
Yes.  
  
You knew this would happen. Your magic is gone now and you can no longer 'see'. She taunted mentally.  
  
Oh well.  
  
"But that's still hiding in the end." She whispered again.  
  
Huh. The air felt off without moon-centered magic coursing through her. The breath of day was so.........cold.  
  
Getting up she doggedly struggled to get out of bed. Gravity all the while tying her down with its mystical threads and cold fingers.  
  
'Stay with me.' It seemed to call to her like a lover in the mist of life or death.  
  
'I must hold you in my arms!' gravity pleaded.  
  
Feh. Gravity would have its day another time.  
  
Toya sat at the table and sighed. Suddenly something in him woke to the activities of a non-human entity.  
  
Getting up, as though gravity had less of an effect on him, the boy went up to the room where he found the girl struggling to stand.  
  
"Shouldn't be doing that." He said in the usual gravely, rough voice that could have equaled sandpaper on the lips of a colder being.  
  
"I'll make it." She scoffed as she used her tail for balance.  
  
The older teen sighed and walked over. "Get on." He said as he kneeled down to give a piggyback ride to the little girl.  
  
"Save your sympathy, Kinomoto-kun, it makes me wanna gag." Just as coldly as Toya's eyes, Toratsuki brushed the offer away like a breeze to a tree's leafy fingers.  
  
Toya smiled a little. The girl wasn't so bad after all. She knew how to hold her own well enough.  
  
"Where are you going?" He asked.  
  
"Downstairs to eat. I don't feel so good so I probably need to eat something." Logic in a non-logical world. Toratsuki helped herself down the stairs and into the kitchen where Fujitaka sat waiting for his son to arrive back down. Upon seeing a pointy pair of ears just poking out above the counter, because that's just how strait Toratsuki was standing at the moment, he looked perplexed.  
  
"Um......excuse me?" He asked. Jumping, the little girl straitened up and looked Fujitaka in the eye. Her ice-blue winter meeting his deep brown coffee. The cat-like slit of her eyes made the man jump a bit, which, needless to say, was not all that becoming of him. Surprised, ashamed and frightened, Toratsuki ducked below the counter.  
  
Frowning, the older man got off the chair he was sitting on and slowly walked over to the side where the whatever-it-was was crouched.  
  
"Um......excuse me? Are you Toratsuki-chan?" Fujitaka bent down so that he was eye level with the girl.  
  
Looking up the girl jumped a little at the sight of the full-grown man crouched down beside her.  
  
"You don't need to be afraid, I wont hurt you."  
  
Blinking, Toratsuki looked into the man's eyes as if to search for any truth to match his words. Yes, they looked truthful enough. Somehow, somewhere she had heard those words before.  
  
Never mind that! Her inner voice yelped.  
  
"I'm sorry I startled you." Fujitaka went on.  
  
"I-it's alright." She stammered.  
  
"Are you feeling better now?" The kind man smiled at the being.  
  
"A little." Liar. The little voice taunted.  
  
"That's good. So now, do you want something to eat?"  
  
Amazing. She thought. This isn't even his house and he's offering me food.  
  
But then....... is this your house? The consciousness asked.  
  
No.  
  
No. It was Yuki's. She was more of an intruder herself. An intruder without knowing she was.  
  
"Yes." She said at last. Getting to her feet, Toya's father held out his hand to help her up. Taking the outstretched hand, Toratsuki felt the grip tighten enough to help her up. And without knowing it, for the first time in her life, she knew what a father's hand felt like. Never knowing a real parent was not something she had contemplated in the unblemished moments of the day, but rather a deliberation to be toyed with in the latter hours of the night. In those troublesome moments before unconsciousness, those minutes waiting for sleep to take her away, she had played with the notion of having no mother and no father. Now this hand, this well negotiated hand, was her first thought of family during the day.  
  
"Is something wrong?"  
  
His voice.  
  
Man dressed in robes.  
  
Why?  
  
Gardens.  
  
Why does he......?  
  
Long, dark hair.  
  
Why does he sound so.....?  
  
Magic.  
  
......Familiar?  
  
"I-."  
  
Why?  
  
"Dad?"  
  
Toya!  
  
The boy walked downstairs. He was carrying the basin of water and the clothes that had been upstairs. Fujitaka smiled when he saw him and the girl flinched at the smile.  
  
He looks like.......  
  
"Do you want something to eat, Toya? I'm going to get something for Toratsuki so I'll make something for you if you're hungry."  
  
"Naw, I'm fine. I'll be up to help you in a minute. Just let me put this stuff away."  
  
"Alright. Do you think Yukito will mind?"  
  
"Naw. He won't mind."  
  
"What about......?"  
  
"Yue-sama won't mind. He doesn't like it if I use the stove when he's not around."  
  
Fujitaka blinked. That was the first full sentence the little child had said and this took him by surprise.  
  
"I see. All right then, what would you like to eat?" The older man recovered.  
  
Not knowing what to say, Toratsuki looked through the cupboards and fridge to find something edible. Finally, settling with ramen, they set about to make it.  
  
The little girl got out her chopsticks and waited for her meal of instant noodles. She was still quite feverish, but hunger took her quickly. She had sensed that Yue was gone. Not that she had 'felt' it, but more that the house seemed to be smaller when he was gone. The walls didn't vibrate as much with his soft magic, instead they withheld all they had to save up magic incase Yue took a while to return. The house seemed quieter and less inhabited now then it had before. Yue's existence was vital to this house's reality. Without the moon guardian, it would fall apart like some old, rusted shack. Toratsuki looked around the walls and realized that like her old house, there were few pictures of family or relatives. Her white house was long in the past, but she could remember a few pictures. Most were of scenery, not people. There were a few, but only to convince one of family, not reality.  
  
"All done." Fujitaka pronounced and set a bowl in front of the girl. For an instant, the man put his hand on her head in a similar manner to the way he did with Sakura, his daughter. The pat on the head seem to freeze time like an unexpected frost in the dead of night.  
  
This hand.  
  
Who are you......?  
  
Why do you......?  
  
Who am I......?  
  
Why do I.......?  
  
That man.  
  
He......  
  
He stands in the garden with Yue and Keroberos. He has glasses like this man. He smells like this man. Like...............like a father.........like my father.........like my.......  
  
Tearing herself from the seat, Toratsuki raced to the bathroom just in time to throw up.  
  
"Everything alright?" Toya raced into the room as he heard the chair topple to the ground.  
  
"I......I don't know." His father replied.  
  
The two got to the bathroom to see the girl gag and vomit again in the toilet. Heaving, she tried to get back up, but failed.  
  
Kneeling beside the girl, Fujitaka rubbed her back to ease the child's nauseous stomach.  
  
"You okay?" Toya asked.  
  
"Y-yeah." She mumbled as Fujitaka left to get a glass of water.  
  
"Let's take your temperature." The boy sighed as her held out the thermometer. Sticking it in her mouth, Toratsuki waited for Toya to take it out and get the reading.  
  
"Well, it's down to eighty-nine at least." The boy placed it on the counter as his father hastily reentered the room with a glass of water.  
  
"Rinse your mouth out." He said. The toilet was flushed and all evidence, save the smell, of her illness was swept away.  
  
"Gomen." *sorry * She whimpered.  
  
"It's not your fault."  
  
"What's not?" Yukito walked back into the room with more of a worried look on his face then anything.  
  
"Oh, Yuki, you're back."  
  
"How's Sakura?" Toya asked with a worried look on his face.  
  
"Alright. She sent me back to give you a hand."  
  
"I should get going, my work is done and as long as everyone over here is alright then I can go." Fujitaka got to his feet and saw himself out.  
  
"So Sakura's okay?" Toya asked once more just to be sure.  
  
"Yes, she and Kero are fine. They're going to go looking for whoever started the blast as soon as your father gets home." Yukito informed. Turning his attention to his 'pet', the boy looked concerned.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"She was sick to her stomach, but her fever's come down." It was Toya's turn to relay info around. The smaller boy walked over and picked the girl up, taking her back to her bed.  
  
"Gomen," *Sorry * Toratsuki mumbled, "I broke my promise and now I'm holding you all back from having a good time."  
  
"Don't worry 'bout it." Toya sighed. He knew she was just a kid and she had meant well, but how was she going to get outside without the illusions? This was definitely going to require thought.  
  
"Are you hungry?" Yuki asked as his 'pet' lay down on the bed and curled herself up into a fetal position.  
  
"A little." She fibbed.  
  
Toya had walked down the stairs to get the bowl of untouched ramen noodles and brought them up. Passing the dish to the girl he watched as she forced the noodles down.  
  
"I'll go get you something to drink." Yuki volunteered.  
  
"Kay." Toya said as he sat down near the bed, just in case Yukito's 'pet' needed to go to the bathroom and barf again.  
  
"You broke your word. Why?"  
  
Startled, Toratsuki looked up and fixed the boy with her icy eyes. "Because, 'he' wanted me to. I hate hiding, and to give you back what you had lost was the least I could do. You saved his life, and for that I am grateful."  
  
"You do realize you won't be able to get out of the house." Toya said coldly.  
  
"Not that I care. I take orders from Yue-sama and Yukito."  
  
"What does this have to do with anything?"  
  
"I'm not sure, but that's all there is to it. He said that you needed the energy and so I gave it all to you, regardless of the consequences."  
  
"You were foolish, kid, foolish and reckless. But I owe you my thanks."  
  
Toratsuki ate more ramen as Yuki walked in and handed her a glass of milk.  
  
"Here you go. This should help you feel better."  
  
"Arigato, Yukito-san." * Thank you *  
  
* * * "Sakura! This is a little too strange! I haven't found anything and we've been out here for hours!" Kero wined.  
  
"Twenty minutes, Kero. We've only been here for twenty minutes." His mistress corrected.  
  
"It feels longer then that." The sun guardian moped a little needlessly.  
  
"I know, but whatever that was just rattled the entire town! It couldn't have just up and disappeared, could it?"  
  
"You never know. There have been many little occurrences that we so far haven't been able to explain."  
  
"But that? That took out Yue and the girl who's staying with him. By the way......are you sure that what she said to you was true?"  
  
"That girl is not human, Sakura. And I can't help feeling attracted to her. As if she were related to me in some way. Both our pulses were in sync, even though she had moon-centered magic then."  
  
"It was Yue's wasn't it?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Do you think this blast was her doing?"  
  
"No. Yue was there and he's convinced that she didn't have enough power to create such a blast. Besides, it took her down with it." Kero pondered.  
  
"I still think we should go over to Yukito's house to see if everyone's alright."  
  
"Works for me, besides it's not like we're making any real progress out here, is it?" Kero shrugged and the two took to their feet. Running down the streets, they trotted over to Yukito's house and knocked on the door.  
  
Toya answered and Kero regretted forgetting to return to his true form.  
  
"Hi, monster. What are you doing here?"  
  
"DON'T CALL ME MONSTER!" Sakura growled.  
  
Yuki walked up behind Toya and saw his best friend's little sister.  
  
"Hi, Sakura." Upon seeing Keroberos in all his fuzzy splendor, he immediately returned to his true form.  
  
"So, Yue, I think now is as good a time as any to explain about the girl." Kero coxed.  
  
"Very well, but I think it would be wise if the two of you would step inside instead of standing there for the world to see." His icy amethyst eyes narrowed as they all walked into the house and closed the door.  
  
"I will put the girl to sleep, she does not need to know any of this." Yue left and returned carrying the limp form of Toratsuki in his arms.  
  
Sakura had never seen her classmate in her true form before and she cautiously stepped a little closer to get a better look. Kero was right. There was an unconscious pulse to her being that felt of life and existence, but, also, it felt as though she complemented Yue's and Kero's magic. As if she had been made to fit in, like a puzzle piece.  
  
"Many years ago," Yue began, "before Yukito moved here, I was awakened from the Clow book and began to search for a place to stay while awaiting my role as Judge. I stayed near Clow's mansion in an old tree for a few years. One night I was off searching for a good place to drink the energy from the moon, when I found this." Looking down at Toratsuki he sighed and continued.  
  
"Two men were beating her and nearly killed the child. I felt attracted to her essence and so I chased the men away. I took the girl with me and kept her with me. She had no parents, no name and no home. I was the one who named her and for a few years I stayed with her. Until......the year Yukito move here. At that time I erased any memory of Yukito and me from her mind. With my power I gave her an illusion to hide behind and a home. She was registered at a school and when she awoke it was like waking up for the first time."  
  
"So you left her to fend for herself?" Kero asked.  
  
"There was nothing else I could have done. But before I left I promised I'd send for her again to come and live with me. So, while Sakura captured the cards, Toratsuki went to school and lived as if she were a normal human. Then I began to loose my power. At this time, her illusions began to fail and break up. Her house would have been destroyed and her real memories would have come back to her. So I sent for her before I was to die. However, Toya gave his power to me. Once the girl got here I re-erased her memory of before this time and adjusted the records of the school. Nether she nor her school has any memory of her existence there."  
  
"So......all this time she's had no real memory of anything from her past?" Toya asked.  
  
"Somewhat," Yue corrected, "she knows I saved her life and that she left her old home to come and live with me, but that is all."  
  
"And that is everything?" Kero asked.  
  
"Yes." Yue confirmed and then put the child down for Sakura to have a better look.  
  
The pointy cat ears were small and like Keroberos' except white like Yue's hair.  
  
"She doesn't have her own magic?" Sakura asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"Yue, you can't keep it. The thing is not a human, and it's certainly not something we can just have clinging to us like a lost little puppy." Kero hung his head to avert his eyes.  
  
"Well, we can't just turn it loose in the world, now can we?" Toya said sympathetically trying to keep up the tougher act that defined him.  
  
"Know this, Keroberos, what I do is my business alone. The girl is staying here, and I will not hear anymore from you." An extremely icy look locked the Sun guardian in its raspy digits.  
  
"You cannot just take in some sort of stray off the streets! Do you even know where she comes from?" Kero tried to recover from the stabbing look.  
  
"What I do is my business and mine alone." Yue repeated.  
  
"What about Sakura? She's our mistress!" Kero tried to get a point across even though even he wasn't sure what it was.  
  
"I really don't mind Yue keeping her, Kero. We can't just leave her now, and besides, Yuki likes her too. He's really happy having someone to live in the house with him." Sakura said as she shrugged to show indifference.  
  
Sighing, Kero looked defected and turned to Toya who was the only one there who, at this point, could side with him.  
  
"I really don't mind letting her stick around. Besides, it's not my decision to make." The older boy said.  
  
Kero got to all four paws and looked around.  
  
"Fine. You all do as you will, but remember, Yue, we have a job to protect our mistress, nothing else."  
  
"Don't tell me how to live, Keroberos." Yue said with a note of distaste as the beast got up and left the room.  
  
Sighing, Sakura got up to follow him. "Well, I'll see you two tomorrow at school." She smiled.  
  
Toya had decided to go home now that all the real excitement had died down 


	16. Finding

Chapter 16: Finding  
  
A search can take a lifetime. Competing with time to find the inevitable, or someone you love?  
  
Himuri walked down the streets. She too had been blown off her feet, but now, as her mind slowly put itself back together, she knew that this foreign magic was hurting her. The girl clutched at the streetlamp as if it were to keep the very world from falling apart. She didn't think much of her sleepiness, but more of the spinning feeling in her head. She was close to Toratsuki, of that she was sure. However, now the threads of magic had split into two different directions. The strand of melting ice had gone off and one had remained where the original strands had been. How was she to know which to follow? Now, as the new day was dawning, she felt as though this was more then this could bear. Letting the pole go, Himuri struggled to walk. This had to continue, she needed to do this.  
  
It was about six o'clock when Toya stirred. He felt someone's eyes watching him. At first he thought he could feel some strange magical signature, but soon his mind realized there was none. Letting one eye slide open, Toya looked around to find nothing there. No one was in the room at all. Getting up, he was confused. Was this just a sudden feeling that plagued him at this reached hour? The boy got into his school uniform and walked out of his room. Hearing a light scratching noise he looked up and down the hallway to see if anyone else was up. His father wasn't and Sakura wouldn't be for another hour.  
  
Walking downstairs, Toya looked around the kitchen to find nothing but the emptiness of the room itself.  
  
I must be going nuts.  
  
No! There it was again! It had to be something......right?  
  
"Who's down here?" He asked almost shakily. This was very strange indeed. One thing was for sure; it was way too early for this.  
  
Just then, something swished past his line of vision. Something familiar.  
  
A tail.  
  
Cat ears.  
  
A crescent moon.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Toya asked in his normal, calm and collective voice. That voice that made it seem as though life were a play and he, Kinomoto Toya, were an actor who had read the lines a hundred times or more.  
  
Yukito's 'pet' walked into plane view. Her cat-like ears pressed against her head in shame or fear, whichever came first.  
  
"I......I wanted to get a closer look at the man." She said as she swayed side to side.  
  
"What 'man'?"  
  
"The man that looks sort of like Yuki. He was over at Yue-sama's house."  
  
Fujitaka.  
  
"My father?"  
  
"The man was familiar. He 'felt' like someone from a very long time ago. Someone from a time that I do not remember all that well."  
  
What was she talking about?  
  
"I don't understand." Toya admitted as openly as possible.  
  
"Last night...I 'felt' something that I haven't 'felt' since I...since I can remember. It was something that I feel I should have remembered."  
  
The creature looked so confused and still a little sick. Toya couldn't help feeling sorry for her.  
  
"So...what were you doing sneaking around my room?"  
  
"I...didn't know where to find the man." She mumbled almost a little ashamed of her mistake.  
  
Sighing, Toya decided, against his better judgment, to take the girl upstairs into his father's room. The door opened soundlessly as they walked in. The room itself seemed as silent as the air around them and as clean as a new day. There was a definite scent to the place and it seemed to overwhelm the being as she gently slunk in. Toya stayed by the door for a second, but then followed her.  
  
"Shhh. He's asleep." The boy whispered so as to state the obvious for the little girl. Heaven only knew she was a little bit slow and maybe she would forget to keep her voice below a hushed whisper. It would be something she would do.  
  
Looking at Fujitaka the girl blinked a bit and then turned on her heel to leave.  
  
Walking back downstairs the two stood in silence. It was an awkward silence that clung, claws and all, to everything.  
  
"Yuki...is a lot happier having someone to go home to in that old house." Toya mumbled. Really it was just to break the awkwardness that held them so. His eyes never met the little form of Toratsuki, but he knew that she had looked at him with a mix of thankfulness and surprise.  
  
"N-no matter what you are...please stay here...for his sake. Alright?"  
  
A more perplexed look was given to the boy and he accepted it willingly. In all truth he had anticipated it.  
  
"You would ask me to stay? Why?" She didn't doubt his sincerity; merely words of this caliber did not come so freely from Kinomoto Toya.  
  
"Yes, for his sake. Yukito will have someone to talk to in that old house when I can't be there."  
  
"We already discussed this." Toratsuki felt a lot more comfortable with a topic she recognized now.  
  
"Good to see you remember."  
  
"So why bring it up again?" Another question to prod the older boy with and another level of uncomfortable silence to overcome.  
  
Toya paused.  
  
"Because...I wanted to be sure you understood."  
  
Silence.  
  
The man in the garden...  
  
Yue...  
  
Kero...  
  
Flowers...  
  
'I wanted to be sure that you understand.'  
  
The silence was ugly. Thick, horrible, and ugly. It took a few seconds for the girl to recover from the taciturn air and into reality.  
  
"You should get back to your house. Yukito will be up soon and he'll worry if you're gone." Toya tried to politely nudge the conversation in the direction of leaving.  
  
Nodding, the child walked out the backdoor so as not to be seen by an unfortunate bystander. Closing the door behind her, Toya went back to bed. However, he received no sleep as a reward for the ugly silence suffered.  
  
Toratsuki made it back to Yukito's house before he woke up. Deciding to make herself busy before he got up, the girl put on some work clothes and began to clean the house. Of coarse she had a little problem with dusting the top shelves because she was too short to reach.  
  
'I want to be sure you understand.'  
  
Hanging up the laundry seemed tedious to her racing attention span. Her clumsy fingers fumbled with the clothes pegs as she worked. A slight breeze caught the girl off guard and her musty brown hair billowed in its wake.  
  
Walking inside with an empty laundry basket, Toratsuki observed that Yukito was up and about. The silver haired boy was packing up his textbooks for the day.  
  
"Looking for something, Onii-sama?" She smiled.  
  
"I can't find my civics textbook...you haven't seen it...have you?" The boy asked; only pausing to rifle through some papers and a few novels stacked on a nearby chair.  
  
"Gomen, I haven't." *sorry * The little girl sighed and then decided to have a look for the book herself so as to give her 'brother' a hand.  
  
Running up the stairs, nearly tripping a few times, Toratsuki walked herself through room after room looking for the book.  
  
Damn. Nothing.  
  
"I FOUND IT!" Yukito called from the kitchen.  
  
Sighing, the child decided to get into her uniform for school while she was upstairs. She loved the hat that they got to wear, but in all truth she disliked the skirt. It would have been so much nicer to wear her kimono instead.  
  
Racing down the stairs for something to eat before she left for school, Yukito reminded her of reality.  
  
"Umm...Toratsuki...what are you doing?"  
  
"Going to school." She smiled.  
  
Yukito pointed a finger at her tail and then at her ears and then finally at her eyes. Realizing what he was getting at, the girl sighed and nodded. This had been her choice after all.  
  
Yuki looked a little sad and he walked over to her. Kneeling down to be at eye level, the silver haired boy smiled weekly.  
  
"I promise, I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? I'll come right home after school and-."  
  
"No. You shouldn't do that because of me. I chose this, and so I need to face it. I'll stay here and look after the house." Smiling as sincerely as she could Toratsuki tried to look brave.  
  
"Alright. But only if you're sure." Yukito pressed.  
  
"Kay."  
  
The boy left the house as he always did; only this time he waved goodbye to the creature that was staying behind.  
  
As soon as Yuki was out of sight, Toratsuki went back to her room and got herself dressed in one of her kimonos. Hey, there had to be a bright side to this...right?  
  
The blue cloth was smooth to the touch. The orange flowers contrasted themselves well and the little yellow orbs of color seemed to truly glow. Putting on some sandals, Toratsuki pulled her hair back into rough piggy- tails and walked outside. It was a clear day. Only a few clouds to smatter the sky with their smothering touch. The sun poked its slivered fingers though the air toward the plants of the ground. It was peaceful here. But there was no time to worry about that. She had work to do!  
  
Sakura had been able to catch up to her brother, who, at the moment, seemed a little grouchy. Maybe because she had heard him get up earlier then usual. Yukito had met up with them, as usual. But something was missing.  
  
"Where's Toratsuki?"  
  
"She can't come to school anymore until we figure out a way to hide her tail, ears and eyes." Yukito sighed a little, but still held his happy appearance.  
  
Sakura nodded and secretly thought it would be a good thing to bring something for the creature to do to keep busy.  
  
Sweeping the back pathway to the garden, Toratsuki wiped a bit of sweat form her brow. Only two hours had passed and it had felt like an eternity without Yukito. She missed his smile, and she missed being able to go with him. But that involved hiding. And was that really worth it?  
  
No.  
  
Yes.  
  
Maybe.  
  
The light played off her face as she walked back inside. The coolness of the house had made a difference on her skin, but that was far from thought now. There was nothing more to do. Sitting down she sighed. The house was big without him and she was bored already.  
  
Eriol was in class today. Which was strange because he had been absent for a while. What bothered Li most about his suspicious classmate was that he was always staring at the seat in front of Sakura. Like he was trying to figure out where Tsukishirou-chan had gotten too.  
  
Strange.  
  
The boy looked fondly saddened by the absence of the new girl and this startled Li most of all.  
  
The final bell caught the boy off guard and he jumped a mile high before his hart rate cooled down and returned to a normal pulse.  
  
"Something bothering you, Syaoran-kun?"  
  
Looking up with a look that spelled out the very meaning of the word shock, Li yelped a little as Eriol stood over him. Smiling no less.  
  
"N-nani?" *W-what * He managed to say before choking on his own clumsy words.  
  
"Are you alright? You look sort of pale." His classmate said with a smile that nearly made him gag.  
  
"N-no! Nothing's wrong! I just...you can't sneak up on people like that!" Li tried to sway the topic away from what he had nearly spat out into the opening for all to hear.  
  
"You know," Eriol's voice dropped to a dull whisper and his eyes looked to have a hint of hidden mystery to them that Li had not seen before, "it would be wise to keep what's on your mind a little less obvious."  
  
A cold shudder rocked down Syaoran's spin and into the very depths of his person.  
  
With that, and a look of satisfaction, Eriol left his stunned classmate to sit there in the empty classroom. 


	17. Waking

Chapter 17: Waking  
  
'... So tonight I wish upon the stars/ as they rise upward to guide me/ and I'll see you here just as you are/ now as then, beside me/ scares me how the years have flown/ Like the leaves drift in September/ They lost sight of you, as your legends grow/ but this road and I...we remember...' Nights Drive- Garnet Rogers.  
  
Li trotted down the street after Sakura. She had had club practice today and he had waited just for her.  
  
"Sakura-chan!"  
  
"Syaoran-kun? I thought you went home ages ago."  
  
"No, I wanted to talk to you."  
  
"Oh?" The girl stopped and waited for the boy to catch his breath. It didn't take long at all, Syaoran was very fit, but he obviously hadn't expected such an extended trot.  
  
When he had straitened up and regained his composure, the boy sighed.  
  
"Something's wrong, isn't it?"  
  
"Wrong?" The questioning look was passed as if it were a scrap of paper or a love note.  
  
"The girl. Why wasn't she in class?"  
  
"Toratsuki?"  
  
Nodding, Li kept the firm look as if he had held it in his hand. Sakura unraveled the latest events and explained why their classmate wasn't in class.  
  
"You saw her true form?"  
  
"Yes. But it wasn't like she knew I was there." Sakura explained.  
  
Li had remembered the shockwave throwing him clear off his feet. He had almost not expected it. But then... when he had finally woken up from his unwilling sleep it had been too late to call Sakura and besides that, he had had almost no energy to do so. Unlike his love, he had no one to warn him of the onslaught. What of this non-human beast? How could Eriol have known about...?  
  
"I think you should keep your eyes on Eriol. There's something about him I don't like."  
  
"Li, you seem to have it in for every transfer student or teacher that we've ever had!" Sakura stifled the laugh she knew was at her throat.  
  
Toratsuki had fallen into a deep sleep that afternoon. It was as though the drowsiness had taken her into its hands and cradled her close to its toxic fumes. Not that she hadn't enjoyed the rest, mind you. Sleep was always welcome upon her and this bed as far as she was concerned. It was the dreams that would nag her this time. How unfortunate that the same man would intrude upon her sleep as he did upon her thoughts.  
  
The man in long dark robes.  
  
Yue.  
  
Keroberos.  
  
The garden.  
  
"I want to be sure that you understand."  
  
"...You understand."  
  
"...You understand."  
  
"...You understand."  
  
The voice swirled and echoed like a fog that choked her lungs. Why did these dreams come so often? What did they want from her?  
  
"Something's calling you." The man smiled. Nodding at something the girl could not see the man smiled like he had always had in her dreams.  
  
"Something's calling you." He repeated as if he had never let the words fall in the first place.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"That will come in due time, little one." The garden began to vanish, the light began to dim.  
  
"...Toratsuki....?"  
  
The voice was so far away. Too far away to reach. She tired to look back at the man, but he was fading fast. The voice was like a beacon in the darkness. A light amidst the thick, ugly, beautiful darkness....  
  
Toya sighed. The girl hadn't come to the door and they had been calling her for five minutes now. Damn this wasn't looking good.  
  
"Maybe she's out back." He tried to reassure Yukito. The boy bit his lip in apprehension as he waited.  
  
"Toratsuki-chan!" He called again.  
  
Her eye slid open and before she could do a thing about it the girl was at her feet and to the door.  
  
"Yuki!" She jumped at the first person in her line of vision and clamped on tight.  
  
"Um...you wanna let go now?" Toya mumbled.  
  
Yukito snickered a bit as the little girl let go of Toya. At least she wasn't dead or anything.  
  
"Were you sleeping?" Yuki asked.  
  
Nodding Toratsuki smiled a bit and helped get some tea on the way.  
  
"How was you're first day away from school?" Toya asked as he tried to bring up conversation.  
  
"Alright." She lied a bit.  
  
"Sounds like fun. I wish I had the day off." Toya sighed as he pulled out a Civics book and opened it to the offending page that held his homework.  
  
The day stretched on for a while and with nothing better to do then do the housework Toratsuki felt listless. When the knock on the door brought her out of her daydreams she walked to the front of the house, forgetting that things were not as they usually were. Just as her fingers touched the handle to open the way for whoever was on the other side, Toya picked her up roughly and brought her away from the hall.  
  
"What were you thinking? You don't know who that is!" He said in a bit of a hushed voice.  
  
By now Yukito had already opened the door.  
  
"Konichiwa Sakura-chan." Good afternoon Sakura Letting the girl in, Toya breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at the girl, this time his voice was a normal room volume and he didn't try to keep anyone from hearing.  
  
"We were lucky that time. What if you had opened the door and it was someone we didn't know? What if that wasn't Sakura?"  
  
Toratsuki looked sad and a little pathetic to boot, but Toya sighed and scratched her behind the ears. A deep thrum burrowed its way up from her throat and the noise of her purr filled the room.  
  
What are we going to do with her? Toya thought to himself.  
  
Sakura walked into the room where her brother and Toratsuki were. This was the first time she had seen her classmate in her true form when she was awake and upright. But there was no hostility in her eyes. Nothing that might betray her true feelings, so it would seem that she didn't mind Sakura being here.  
  
"Hi. I came by to give you you're schoolwork. I figured you could use something to do while you're home alone."  
  
Eriol had walked through the door in what could best be described as a good mood. Akizuki looked down at the boy with a look that questioned him to the utmost degree.  
  
"And what has made you so cautious today, Ruby Moon?" Eriol asked as he took off his shoes and walked into the room.  
  
"Oh, nothing special." She sighed. The girl looked a tad jaded by all this as she allowed herself to slip into smooth transformation. When the cocoon of light dripped away from her being, she casually let another exasperating sigh escape her.  
  
"Fifty yen for your thoughts, Ruby?"  
  
"So that's the expenses for a lady's thoughts these days, hmmm?" She smirked as she slid down onto the windowsill to sit comfortably aloof from all else that covered the room with its company.  
  
"So it would seem." Eriol smiled with an all-to-satisfied look for her taste. Tilting her head back a bit to allow her soft skin to touch the silky glass of the window, Ruby laugh quietly under her breath until she had regained herself.  
  
"I was just wondering what has put you in such a fair-weather mood today."  
  
"Why shouldn't I be?" Eriol looked disgustingly serious all of a sudden.  
  
"I don't know. It's just that you've seemed all too happy ever since you sent out that serge of energy." The creature bit her lip. Perhaps she should have just kept her mouth shut and pretended as though all were well. But then that would do no good. He seemed to see through everything as though it were his and his alone. And she, she being his, would be no exception to this.  
  
"If you don't mind my asking, Eriol...what did you want to come of it?" Ruby tried for the truth she knew was hidden so very well behind those glassy eyes of his. Mayhap he'd allow the little bird named truth to fly away this time instead of keeping it locked away within himself as he always found a way of doing.  
  
"You will see in due time." He sighed.  
  
No.  
  
The bird was locked away as always. Nothing to betray him. Nothing seeping through the impenetrable eyes of her master. But then...there never was.  
  
"Is there anything else on your mind? I get the feeling you've more then you're admitting to."  
  
Again those eyes.... Hmm...she would have to look into this.  
  
"Yes, admittedly." She smirked hiding all other thoughts away. She would come back to them later, but now? Now was time for something other.  
  
"Oh? What might that be?" Eriol asked with an almost too eager smile.  
  
"Yue has a new pet. It's a little creature that keeps clinging to him like some sort of love-struck puppy. It's rather annoying. She's getting in the way."  
  
"Ahhh. So I see you've met Toratsuki."  
  
"How do you know her name?"  
  
"She has been in my class. I must say her false form has been a nice look for her."  
  
"'Has'?"  
  
"Yes...recently she gave it up."  
  
Interesting.  
  
Very interesting.  
  
"What exactly is she? The little brat has been nothing but trouble for me. She's kept around Toya and Yukito like she were chained to them."  
  
"You have no more use for the Kinomoto boy, Ruby. Now Yue has his power. Ah but then he somehow has developed a 'pulse' again. Remarkable. A mortal shouldn't have been able to give up that much magic and be able to reproduce more."  
  
"You see? He is still of value to me. If I might get my hands on some of that magic he holds now...." Ruby let herself trail off and think of what the new strength could do for her.  
  
"Don't get carried away now Ruby. He's not got enough to satisfy you in the least."  
  
"I know...but put that together with whatever I might take from Yue's false form?"  
  
Eriol looked stern.  
  
"I think that would be most foolish, Ruby Moon. You will take nothing from Yue or his false form, do you understand? That's not why we're here."  
  
"Don't worry about it. Every time I get close enough to take even a little that bratty spirit gets in my way. She's in the way, Eriol." Ruby reminded.  
  
The boy seemed to have stopped listening.  
  
"Master? Did you hear what I said?"  
  
"Yes, I heard you."  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Well what?"  
  
"What are we going to do about Yue's little pet?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
Ruby was taken back. Confusion lined her face, but she didn't feel like questioning her master further.  
  
Yue was sitting out back on the porch where he could see the full moon. Toratsuki was racing around the yard chasing a moth. Every now and then the girl would trip over her own feet or let her demented attention span wander as it always did. She stopped to look at a flower that had caught her attention. The stars had begun to poke their faces out into the night sky.  
  
The child stopped to look at a pretty rock that had fixed her eye. Picking it up she dusted it off and brought it to Yue.  
  
"Pretty." She mumbled.  
  
Yue sighed and took it from her. Letting his eyes fall over the stone he inspected it carefully. Without a word he give it back to her.  
  
"Yue?"  
  
Looking down at the icy-blue eyes, Yue let himself wait for what she would say.  
  
"D-do you think w-we could go to the park once it gets d-dark. No one would see me that way."  
  
Letting a thin smile, or what resembled a smile, slide over his futures Yue nodded.  
  
"Yes. Once everyone gets off the streets. I will take you to the park."  
  
"Can Toya come too?"  
  
Nodding again, Yue said. "Yes, I'll call him and see if he wants to."  
  
It was nine o'clock when Toya walked onto the playground where Yukito had told him to meet him. Looking down at his watch, he sighed. They were late. Why would he want to meet him at this hour of the night? Just as he let another sigh go, Yukito and Toratsuki walked out of the darkness and up to the boy.  
  
"Hi, Toya!" The two smiled at the boy.  
  
"How come we're here?" He got strait to the point.  
  
"Toratsuki needed to get out of the house, but we had to wait until there was no one around to see her. She wanted to invite you too." Yuki explained the situation and Toya grinned.  
  
"Sure. Why not? Hey, you want me to call the squirt? The kid could use some peer interaction."  
  
So with that, Toya trotted off to the nearest pay phone. Within five minutes Sakura showed up with Syaoran and Tomoyo at her side.  
  
Damn him.  
  
"Why is he here?" Toya asked Sakura with a glare in his eye.  
  
"I figured he would like to come. Besides he wanted to see Toratsuki's true form."  
  
With another growl for good measure Toya walked over to sit on a bench while Toratsuki ran around the park with Tomoyo. Sakura trotted along while dragging Syaoran along behind her.  
  
Damn him again. 


	18. Coming

Chapter 18: Coming  
  
Tora-chan: Hi guys. My buddy LOTSHA gave me some new magna to read and it was GREAT! I loved it. It's called 'Girl Got Game' There was this one scene in particular that I loved so much I couldn't resist putting my own version of the scene into my fic, so please note that the last part of the chappie has been inspired from GGG and is not an completely original work. I don't own Girl Got Game (Well duh.) ether just so you know. Thanks. ==  
  
Wait for me by moonlight, watch for me by moonlight, I'll come to thee by moonlight though hell should bar the way. –The highwayman (I forgot the person who wrote this powem. All I know is it rocks and yeah.)   
  
Eriol walked into the room swiftly. He was in a mood that could have almost been described as nonexistent. It was like he was in no describable mood at all.  
  
A mood all his own.  
  
Ruby sat up straighter as he entered. Eriol was her master after all. Where is Spinal?"  
  
The little beast fluttered in. His bland eyes sent nothing to betray him.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Good. Now that we're all here, I would rather the two of you went into your true forms."  
  
On command the transformation began and the beasts assumed the forms that they were meant for. Ruby smiled a little bit. Almost too sweetly for what was about to come.  
  
"Alright, I want the two of you to pay attention. It won't be long now before the time we've been waiting for has come."  
  
"This is what you wanted to tell us?" Spinal seemed almost uncaring.  
  
"As a mater of fact yes. This is. The girl's dreams are becoming far more vivid. Her memory will be coming around soon. In two more days we finish this."  
  
"What memories are we talking about?" Ruby looked uneasy.  
  
"Nothing that you need to worry about. It will all become clear soon."  
  
Himuri woke up. She had fainted quite a while ago. Was this the morning she had awoken to? Or was it something other? She was somewhere in the woods. The girl was so tired. Is this what borrowed magic could do? It felt like it was eating her veins from the inside out. Trying to roll over, Himuri tried to get comfortable and ease her pain.  
  
It...  
  
Hurt...  
  
So...  
  
Damn...  
  
Much...  
  
She wished this pain would go away. That she could just give it to someone else...anyone else...just take it away.  
  
Sakura had changed another card. It was so nice to have a new Sakura card. She felt the thrum of the magic hiding within the card. It was like the chakara Power inside was calling out to her. Soothing her as if it were warm water pouring over her entire being.  
  
Silk.  
  
That was what it felt like.  
  
Silk.  
  
But now there was something else in the air. There was another pulse. It 'felt' like...like smoldering ashes...like inflaming smoldering ashes! It hurt her senses. Like the ashes were burning her nerve endings.  
  
"You feel that?" Kero yawned.  
  
"Yup. It's really creepy.  
  
"A lot of weird stuff's been happening, huh?" The guardian beast of the sun complained.  
  
"I know. I wish we could have some quite time for once. It's like we never get any time to just sit around." Sakura sighed and thought about what she could do with her free time. Maybe Syaoran would like to go somewhere after school.  
  
Toya had decided to stay at Yukito's house. With this faint new presence he really was reluctant to leave the two beings in the house alone. He knew that Yue could hold his own, but could he hold the fort with his 'pet' to protect? Toya figured he could help out. Toratsuki was still a little week from that day when she threw up. Besides the kid was stuck in the house all day and was only allowed to leave when the sun went down.  
  
Yue was helping put his 'pet' to bed. She clung to his long robes and reluctantly let him go as she slept.  
  
"Do you 'feel' that?" Toya asked.  
  
"Yes. It's been bothering me for a while now. I wonder what it is." The moon guardian said in his typically calm voice that showed nothing but the words for what they were.  
  
"Is it all right if I stay here over night?"  
  
Yue said nothing for a while and then nodded.  
  
"That way if anything bad happened...."  
  
"I am entitled to protect my master, but I will not allow any harm to come to the girl."  
  
Toya thought about this.  
  
"I understand."  
  
Silence fell between the two until Toya broke it again.  
  
"You're protecting my little sister. I will help you protect the girl."  
  
Yue looked sharply at Toya.  
  
"Thank you. I will hold you to that."  
  
Nodding, Toya smiled a little.  
  
That night was strange. Toratsuki felt the man getting closer.  
  
"...I just want to be sure you understand." The man said as he stood in the garden, the beautiful garden that only surrounded him.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
The tall man smiled. His spectacles sat neatly composed on his face. The man looked so...calm...so collected...just so...perfect. He stood there, as if in a picture, and beckoned her to him. As though she were in a trance, as if nothing else could have mattered, she went. She went to him. Beyond all other instinct.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
Again. She had asked that not a minute ago hadn't she? Or was she dreaming that too?  
  
The man just smiled. Just smiled. It seemed nothing else could have shaken him from it.  
  
"My identity has no relevance to you anymore."  
  
What?  
  
"Y-yes it does! You're in my dreams! You were at my house...I think...I...I don't know anymore." She begged.  
  
"You have no more use for my identity."  
  
"YES I DO!" She screamed out to him. Like she was trying to convince him...or convince herself.  
  
"I'm sorry for not telling you before I left."  
  
"Tell me what?"  
  
...  
  
...  
  
...  
  
The man just smiled and walked on. Leaving the girl, leaving the darkness, leaving...the dream. And as he left he took that soothing, beautiful, soft garden with him.  
  
You can't leave! She thought. Not like this!  
  
But it was gone. And in that moment, she felt gone too. Forcing her feet to run, she ran. Ran after the man with the magic essence that felt like cherry blossoms. He who had called her. She ran for him. Ran to catch up to him. Ran to keep pace with him. Ran...because he had called her. Then, there in the darkness, the child fell. The impact didn't hurt at all. No, it was as if she had fallen onto a blanket or a bed. Giving up, the girl sat down and wept.  
  
It was four in the morning when Toya woke up. He felt so strange. Like something was pressing down on his chest. As he tried to sit up and rubbed his eyes he realized what the cause of that pressure was. Yuki's 'pet' was lying on top of him, curled in a little ball right on his ribcage. Keeping himself horizontal so as not to wake the being from her sleep Toya looked back at the girl.  
  
Well...that's new. He thought almost a little too uneasily.  
  
"Come back."  
  
"W-what?" He asked.  
  
But the girl was dreaming and it was then that Toya understood what happened. The girl must have been sleepwalking in her dreams. She might have been chasing after someone and in doing so, have ran into the couch he had used as his bed. Now the hard part was to try and get her off him without waking her up. Deciding it easiest to send out a magical 'call' of distress to wake Yuki then to yell for him, Toya eased his mind into the troubled 'call' with his magical pulse. As he lay there trying not to wake the girl who was still bothering his ribs, he could hear his friend get out of bed and make his way to the stairs.  
  
"Toya? What's going on? I-." The silver haired boy stopped there. He looked at the girl and he looked at poor Toya who was pinned under her. Trying to stifle a laugh of amusement, Yukito walked over to the couch.  
  
"She's still dreaming. I think she was sleepwalking or something."  
  
Yukito scooped up the girl carefully trying not to wake her.  
  
"I'm sorry about that, Toya." The boy apologized for his 'pet' and tried to pry her off him. She was locked onto him as she tried to lock herself onto the man's long robes.  
  
Toya sighed. "Try transforming, Yue might be able to send out a strong magical pulse and get her to latch onto you instead."  
  
Nodding, Yuki let go of the girl and wrapped the blush white wings around himself. Yue was swift and wasted no time. Bringing out a lulling pulse of his own, deep, comforting magic he draped his arms around the girl. The shock waves of the magic hit Toya and flowed over him. It was so calming...like a lullaby or a massage or something.  
  
Toratsuki let go. Her form went limp and soon she snuggled into Yue and latched onto him, locked in his spell like a bird in a cage. Toya himself felt drawn to the spell. He sat up as if he were in a trance. But just as he did, Yue let the comforting pulse die to a little thrum, if you will, and the boy shook himself free of it.  
  
"Soothing, isn't it." Yue said as he took the girl upstairs. "When she was small, I would use that spell to help her to sleep. She would always insist on staying up late."  
  
Toya nodded. He was a little ashamed that he had let the spell take him so easily. Surly he had undergone worse then that. Oh but the waves of magic were so...soothing...so warm and comforting...like a sea of bliss. No wonder the girl latched onto him. Even now Yue had to stop the pulse to make her let go.  
  
Himuri had managed to get to her feet again. The poor girl was exhausted, but by no means was she stopping. Walking through the park she had tried to find the pulse of melting snow but it had changed so drastically. Like it was fading away or leaving her alone in this strange new place. Boys and girls trotted past her on their way to school. A few road bikes, some walked and still others got rides from their parents. This was exasperating, she thought. Right now her parents must be fuming over the fact that she had taken off.  
  
"Why can't I find you?" She mumbled. Then, as she did, she felt the pulse move. It was going toward her but soon turned off onto a different road. Forcing her battered legs to run Himuri started along the road again. Upon turning the corner, toward the pulse, she found a large school. It looked so big to her. The light shone off the walls and the little girl had to shade her eyes to see right. There were so many boys and girls walking around the schoolyard that it seemed like everyone in town were here.  
  
Himuri was tossed along in the sea of bustling people. It was as though she were being swept away by everyone around her. Denying her the right to cry out. Denying her the right to move on and leave this place.  
  
Sakura and Li were also in that crowd of bustling children.  
  
"S- Syaoran, I 'feel' it." The girl mumbled as she stopped to get her bearings.  
  
The boy too was quite capable of seeking out the burning cinders that ached his head so. Looking this way and that, the two searched fruitlessly for the source.  
  
"This way!" Sakura allowed her magic sense to call out to the thread of cinders that lay waist to her mind. The two trotted off in the general direction of the cinders that burned them so. But as they got closer the bell rang and they were swept along in the crowd. There was no fighting it as the two got pushed and bumped toward the entrance of the school, leaving the cinders behind to melt away into the crowd for all eternity. 


	19. Denied

Chapter 19: Denied  
  
'...So take this moment, Mary Jane, and be selfish/ Worry not about the cars that go by/ 'cause all that matters, Mary Jane, is your freedom/ so keep warm my dear, keep dry...'-Alanis Morissette –Mary Jane.  
  
Himuri had to dodge all the people coming by lest she become part of their flowing stream. With what magic she had, the girl sought out the thrum of the melting ice. It was far away now, but close enough to 'feel'. Deciding to wait until school was over rather then to just march on into the building of her own accord, the girl walked off to the park to wait.  
  
The flowers in the garden that only surrounded 'him' looked inviting as always. The dream was becoming so vivid that Toratsuki could just about lean out to touch the flowers themselves.  
  
"Hana...beautiful are they not?" Flowers The man whispered. His smile was never jading even after all this time.  
  
"Y-yes." She managed to say as she walked up to him and clung to his dark robes.  
  
"But they too have a time." The man continued to smile fondly.  
  
"A...time?" The girl was confused.  
  
"All things have a time to live and a time to die. Every living thing must one day leave this world like all other living things before it." The man explained.  
  
"E-even you, master?" Why did she say that? He was not her master. Was he?  
  
"Yes. Even me."  
  
"...I will sleep in the Clow book forever...!"  
  
"...I don't want a new master..."  
  
"...You're not joking, are you...?" The voices drifted past the two figures.  
  
"And...what do you want...little one?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"They have said what they feel...what do you think?"  
  
The man looked down at her. His spectacles didn't seem to fail him as he looked upon the child.  
  
They?  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"My identity no longer has any relevance to you."  
  
Again.  
  
The man turned to walk away. This time, as he left her, the flowers around him faded and began to wither with the autumn. Red and fiery orange leaves floated across her view. This time she knew there was no point in running after him, but she did anyway.  
  
"Stay with me."  
  
"It is my time, little one. Time for me to pass on from here."  
  
"You haven't even told me...!" But the man was gone. Only an empty room with a single chair near the fireplace was left. Dust and darkness filled the room like a cloth or a thickening hand outstretched to all around it. The cobwebs lined the creases of her vision as she looked on.  
  
"You still haven't told me..." She whispered as the image faded away into nothingness.  
  
Waking to an empty house yet again, the little girl sighed deeply and tried not to weep out of frustration of her dream. Walking around the house, Toratsuki began the rest of the housework. She had long given up her math work and the remainder of geography. She was not very good at them at all and as it was her academic grades...well...to be blunt...they sucked. She was too frustrated too work and too frustrated to sleep.  
  
1:36.  
  
Damn.  
  
Yukito wouldn't be home for a while now.  
  
Walking out into the garden the girl stared at the yard and at the pretty flowers. If only she had their carefree spirit with her. She loved the pretty flowers. Perhaps it was Yue-sama who had taught her her love of nature.  
  
Yukito looked out the window. He wished he could be outside right now. The sun was shining and it was almost a shame to be inside studying. The library of the high school held more books then people at the moment and he was thankful for it. Toya had gone off to run a little errand for one of the math teachers. Yuki wished he had someone to talk to at the moment. With Toya he knew he could tell the boy anything. Letting his mind wander like the gentle rays of sunlight that dappled their way through the leaves of the nearby tree, the boy smiled a little. It was so nice and quiet.  
  
Of coarse...how long does that last?  
  
"TOYA! WAIT FOR ME!"  
  
Akizuki.  
  
It would be her. Yukito thought. Only she was capable of that kind of yell. Only she would follow his best friend around with that tone of voice.  
  
With the silence ruined and the kindness of the moment erased from him, Yukito looked up to see Toya slide into his chair across from him with a annoyed look plastered to his face. Akizuki didn't look thrilled to see the silver haired teen, but she was equally able to mask her words.  
  
"Konichiwa Tsukishirou-kun" good afternoon She smiled dryly. Yuki smiled back but it wasn't like the smiles that he gave to Toya or to Sakura and Toratsuki. No, this was a bit more...thin? Yes, thin is a good way to describe it.  
  
"Konichiwa." He responded.  
  
"Hey, I haven't seen TsuTsu-chan recently. Isn't she in school?" The words filtered out of her smoothly but if you listened closely it was a very snide question.  
  
"She's not been well the last few days. Our grandparents are looking after her." Yukito was fully aware now that there were not 'grandparents' at all, but it was still a good cover up for the girl. Akizuki had no need to know. Besides, although he didn't approve of lying, Yukito couldn't tell her the real truth.  
  
"Aw, that's too bad. I hope she gets better soon."  
  
Nodding, Yuki smiled.  
  
Toya tried to shrug the clingy classmate from him, but as always the girl gripped his shoulder tightly. What did she want from him? Couldn't she understand he hated when she did this to him? If it weren't for Yuki's presence he may have bitten her head of right then and there!  
  
Himuri sighed. The park was virtually empty. A few women with strollers waltzed their way through greeting one another sharply as they went. A few local day cares took their young charges for a swift walk. Boys and girls walked by as they all held a bright yellow rope to keep them all together. Some stopped to look at the pale little girl with fuzzy slippers.  
  
There. On the move again!  
  
Forcing herself up, the girl walked on. On toward the threads of magic she 'felt' could kill her at this rate. But how could that stop her. Before she knew it she was at the school calling out for the one she had lost. Calling...because there was nothing more to do. Calling...because just perhaps the being-  
  
Her smile.  
  
Her laugh.  
  
The times they spent together.  
  
The memories raced forward.  
  
"Daijoubu desu ka?"  
  
"Konichiwa! I'm Kimutoki Himuri. I sit right behind you."  
  
"You're hopeless."  
  
"Sure, why not live a little?"  
  
A tear slid down her face. How could she think of the girl as just a being?  
  
"T-Toratsuki-chan!"  
  
Sakura's head whipped around to see who had called both magically and physically.  
  
"Someone's here." She mumbled.  
  
"You feel that too?" Syaoran snapped  
  
"Yes!" The two trotted off through the crowd.  
  
Himuri took another step and found herself in front of two separate pulses. One 'felt' like glassy autumn leaves; crisp, cool and sincere in all they touched with their web like veins and the other like...something greater. Like sakura blossoms...only more so. Himuri didn't hear the voices as Li lifted the little girl onto his back. Her thin body was limp and tired with all the poisonous magic eating her alive.  
  
"What's wrong with her?" Asked a girl from class C-1.  
  
"I've never seen her before." Said a boy.  
  
"Nether have I."  
  
"Where did she come from?"  
  
"Is she sick?"  
  
"Should I get the nurse?"  
  
"No." Syaoran said as he kept the girl from slipping.  
  
"We'll walk her home." Sakura pretended to know who the stranger was. That was enough for the crowd and they all went on their way.  
  
Toratsuki walked to the door and opened it for Yukito and Toya who had come over to work on a class assignment.  
  
"Was school fun? Did you have to run another errand for your math prof.? Did you like the lunch I made for you?"  
  
Toya, who had mentally made a note of never eating Toratsuki's cooking again, smiled and nodded. He had lied like this before for his sister when she was little. He had told her that the ghosts she was so desperately afraid of couldn't hurt her as long as she believed they wouldn't. Yes, it was a lie. Yes it was wrong to lie to his sister. But it had stopped her from crying that day and so the white lie had served its use. Why do we call them 'white lies' anyway? Why not 'blue lies' or 'purple lies'? Sorry....I got into the chocolate pocky. Eats another stick U  
  
Just like last time the lie worked. The little girl looked pleased with herself. Again, another mental note; make Yuki teach her how to cook.  
  
Now the silver haired boy chatted away with the little girl who was eagerly listening. She seemed to miss the outside world more then she was willing to admit.  
  
"Who is she?" Syaoran asked.  
  
"I don't know." Sakura admitted. They were at Li's house because it was easer to get to from where they were at the school and because Sakura's father was home. No need to worry him. Besides...he didn't need to know.  
  
"This isn't hers."  
  
"What?"  
  
"This magic's not hers. It's someone else's." Li explained.  
  
"So...she has borrowed magic?"  
  
"Yes. And it's been tapped into before." The boy sighed.  
  
"What's that mean?"  
  
"Well, you see, when someone gives their magic to someone else and it's been used before it's harder to take it away and make it your own. Sort of like getting a blood transfusion when the blood's tainted." Syaoran explained.  
  
"What will it do to her?"  
  
"You remember how your brother was so tired after he gave his magic away to Yue?"  
  
"Yes. He was always sleeping and he never knew when someone was coming up behind him."  
  
"Well it's sort of the same thing. If magic is 'tainted' then the person's body will reject it and they'll be just like your brother was the day after he gave up his magic. Maybe even worse."  
  
"So how do we get the magic out?"  
  
"I honestly don't know. It's complicated, I know that for sure."  
  
"So...who would know how to get it out of her system?"  
  
"Maybe Keroberos or Yue...Clow...Clow would know if he were still alive."  
  
"TsuTsu-chan! I'm going to work!" Yuki called as he and Toya put on their shoes and walked out the door.  
  
"Kay. Don't be too long!" She called.  
  
Eriol walked out of the hallway and into the room. Seating himself down in the comfortable armchair the boy called upon his guardians.  
  
"Now is the time, Spinal, Ruby. Now is the day that I have long awaited for. Make ready to go, the both of you. Today...we finish this." 


	20. Time

Chapter 20: Time  
  
How can I put this delicately? Time is something that people do have the luxury of having. Often we see time taking our lives as we seek more of it. But in the end, we must return to all things. "A time to kill, a time to heal, time, time thou must untangle this!"  
  
There was something in the air that night. There was just something as Sakura looked at the frail child sitting across from her on the floor. Li had maid tea and now they both sat with the girl and try to make sense of what was going on.  
  
"So...where do you come from?"  
  
"I'm from a few cities away." She said.  
  
"Can you remember the name?" Sakura pressed.  
  
"No."  
  
"The magic's already eating away at her mind." Syaoran mumbled.  
  
"What happens then?"  
  
"She'll die."  
  
"Syaoran-kun! We have to do something to help her!"  
  
"I know, I know. But what can we do?" The boy sighed and tried to sound even slightly reasonable.  
  
THERE!  
  
Sakura nearly leapt out of her own skin. The pulse was so powerful it seemed to rock the world itself. The girl let out a cry of pain.  
  
"Clow. He's at the shrine." The young girl let her mental 'eye' sweep across the town to find where the magic came from.  
  
"Yes," Syaoran said, "he's here."  
  
The two got to their feet and went to find a phone.  
  
"Tomoyo-chan! I 'feel' it again! Meet me and Syaoran at the shrine as soon as you can!" Sakura spoke urgently.  
  
"We need to get Keroberos." Li said.  
  
"I'll stop by my house and get him. Make sure that she doesn't follow us." Sakura said referring to Himuri. The girl looked so groggy that she could have been asleep right then. But even now there was a dulled look of pain in her eyes. The magic was killing her slowly.  
  
Yukito and Toya were outside the flower shop that they had a part time job at. Toya was tending to some day lilies as Yukito went about with a watering can giving fresh water to any bunch of flowers that looked as though they needed it. Just as he walked over to the crocuses (Tora-chan: did I spell that right?) he stopped.  
  
"Yuki?" Toya looked over and saw the far away look in his eyes.  
  
"There's something-." But he didn't finish. The silky, white wings took him under their soft power and he was hidden from sight. Toya tried to grab the boy so as to keep him from other eyes that might be watching, but even as he did he realized that the aria was surprisingly quite. Looking back at Yukito he realized that he was no longer the silver haired teen he had been just moments ago, but was now what could only be described as a frozen-eyed angel.  
  
"A great danger approaches my mistress."  
  
"S-Sakura!" Toya was only able to lock onto the pulse of magic from what he guessed to be the shrine.  
  
The two took off toward the danger. Toya allowed Yue to glide along ahead of him so as to guide the way. He did not trust his sense enough for that. Every step he took made him feel as though there was lead tied to his legs. He felt tired and almost like he was sinking. Too tired to call out for Yue to wait for him and too tried to tell the one ahead that danger was near, the boy fell to the ground.  
  
Yue 'felt' the taller boy's pulse weaken and break under the pressure. Turning back he was shocked to see him on the ground. Flying back, the silver haired being looked over the teenager.  
  
No exterior wound.  
  
No blood.  
  
No broken bones.  
  
And then it took him. His magic was too week to support his consciousness! With his magic gone there was nothing to keep him going. For a moment... there was regret. Yue picked up Toya and stood up. The boy had his eyes open. He was still awake!  
  
YES!  
  
The magic he had permitted Toratsuki to give him! It was keeping him ever so slightly conscious!  
  
"You have a very strong will to resist this spell." Yue mumbled mainly to himself. He doubted if Toya could even hear him or if he could still register what he was saying. Taking himself and Toya into the air, Yue flew off toward the source of the magic, hopping his mistress was not hurt.  
  
Toratsuki woke with a start.  
  
Tora-chan: If you really want you can put on Toratsuki's theme 'Innocent' by Our Lady Peace. Just a thought.  
  
Everyone: Shhhh!  
  
Tora-chan: Okay, okay.  
  
There was something in the air.  
  
"My identity has no relevance to you any longer."  
  
"All things have a time to live and a time to die. Every living thing must one day leave this world like all other living things before it."  
  
The voice!  
  
He was here!  
  
She knew it!  
  
She felt it!  
  
Tearing herself from where she was sitting, Toratsuki raced out the door toward the shrine. As she ran down the street she realized that she had left the house without a hidden form. Furthermore all the people around her had fallen asleep. Feeling more then a little frightened she ran headlong toward the pulse of magic she had 'felt' in her dreams.  
  
"YUE-SAMA!" She cried. The little girl was scared. There were parts of her mind that seemed to be awakening and she couldn't understand what they meant.  
  
"Why did you make it?"  
  
"She's under your care now."  
  
"I'll sleep in the Clow book forever!"  
  
"Do you know what the most beautiful things in the world are-?"  
  
"You forgot to tell me my name!"  
  
Running made the thoughts all the more real and as she ran she knew that there had to be answers closer to where she was headed.  
  
"Who do you think it is?" Tomoyo asked as she focused the camcorder in her hands.  
  
"It's Clow." Syaoran said flatly. He didn't like the thought that Tomoyo- chan had come. Not that he disliked her, it was just who knew how this could play out? Things could get dangerous and he really didn't want to risk the best friend of the one he loved. Sakura loved Tomoyo, not in the same way he loved her, but as a friend she would hate to see anything happen to the magic-less girl.  
  
Suddenly the sky grew very dark. The sun and moon were eclipsed and the whole town plunged into a sickening darkness. Tomoyo fell to the ground and Sakura raced to her side.  
  
"She's just asleep." Li said. Sakura moved Tomoyo's body over by a tree where she hoped the girl would be out of harm's way.  
  
Kero returned to his true form and began to look more worried then Syaoran and Sakura put together.  
  
"I...don't like this." He mumbled in his deep voice.  
  
Sakura would have responded but she was far too busy staring up at the shadowy figures on the top of the entrance of the shrine.  
  
"Eriol!" She choked out the words as though they were big and heavy on her tongue.  
  
"W-what?" Syaoran looked closer at the people on the entrance.  
  
"Very good. However in another time I was known more formally as Clow."  
  
WHAT?  
  
"C-CLOW!" Keroberos was confused. Clow...his master? Here...right in front of him? Why?  
  
"I don't understand." Sakura whispered.  
  
Just as she did two figures stepped out. One she did not, by any means, recognize. But the other she had seen clinging off Toya for long enough.  
  
Akizuki!  
  
"Y-you're in Toya's class! I met you in the park that day." Sakura stammered  
  
"Hmm, so you do remember. Good. You see in this form you know me as Akizuki...but-," She allowed the butterfly wings to take her and she became the beautiful being...  
  
"Ruby moon."  
  
This was MAKING NO SENCE!  
  
"Clow! Why have you been causing so much trouble for Sakura?" Kero was confused and hurt. Why had his master told Yue and he to search for a new master if he was to return? And why make Ruby and Spinal?  
  
"Clow" Yue flew down with Toya in his arms. The boy's eyes were barely open. He was fighting the spell, but it was not enough by any means.  
  
"Toya!" Sakura rushed to her brother.  
  
"He's not quite asleep, not quite awake. The magic is too week to support him for much longer. There wasn't enough to give him." Yue mumbled.  
  
Himuri's eyes were blank. It was as though she were possessed by her own consciousness and yet...and yet she got to her feet one last time. Walking out the door, the girl made her way out into the street. Her feet like that of a puppet on a string, she moved un-bid.  
  
"CLOW!" Yue tried to get his former master's attention.  
  
"Ah...it is good to see you again, Yue."  
  
"Clow, why are you doing this?" Kero protested.  
  
"I want to see if she is worthy. Now...you see your friends? This entire town is asleep! Every last person and animal! The test is simple—wake them and my spell is broken, fail...and they will continue to sleep for all time."  
  
Sakura couldn't talk. She couldn't think. She couldn't say a word. Only could she stare at the boy she had thought to be her friend. Only could she look on in disbelief.  
  
"Time is ticking away, Sakura. You have until the dawn comes to wake them."  
  
"So, Yue? Do you think you're week mistress can break the spell?" Ruby taunted.  
  
"Silence!" Kero shot.  
  
"No need to defend her, Keroberos. She is mealy a pathetic human." Spinal sneered as best he could.  
  
"You dare insult my mistress? I WILL NOT HAVE IT!" Keroberos attacked Spinal and Yue flew after Ruby.  
  
"Syaoran! Help me stop them! I wont let them fight like this!" Sakura pleaded.  
  
Toratsuki's feet pounded against the ground. Her heartbeat was in her throat. Her lungs felt like they were on fire.  
  
"Please...where are you?" She asked.  
  
"Sakura." Syaoran called her.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"How many Clow cards are there left?"  
  
"Two. Why?"  
  
"What cards?"  
  
"Dark and lig-!" It hit her, like a ton of bricks, it hit her. How could she have been so blind? LIGHT! The sun! The way to break the spell!  
  
"Syaoran! People sleep at night, right?"  
  
"Y-yes, so?"  
  
"The Light, if I make it a Sakura card it'll wake everyone up!"  
  
A glow came to Li's eyes as he clued into what was being said. Sakura was right! The Light card was the way to break the spell!  
  
Yue and Keroberos were still fighting with Ruby and Spinal. They could barely be seen in the dark sky above.  
  
Just then there was something that caught the corner of Sakura's eye.  
  
"Yue-sama!"  
  
TORATSUKI!?  
  
Yue looked away from the fight only to have Ruby take advantage of his distraction. His opponent slashed the moon guardian across the side and Yue had to land to tend to his wounds.  
  
"Huh, typical. Even after taking all of Toya's power you're still week. That's what you get for having such a week master."  
  
Yue tried to hold himself back from attacking and leaving the distressed little girl on the ground wide open.  
  
DAMN!  
  
Sakura was his mistress and he was tied to her. She was his first priority!  
  
"...I will help you protect the girl"  
  
Toya was in no condition to try and protect anything...not even himself.  
  
"You're late."  
  
All eyes switched their gaze to Eriol. The boy got down from the entrance and stared at the crying child.  
  
"I was beginning to think you'd never come."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.  
  
"It has been so long hasn't it...."  
  
At that point there was no words where a name was suppose to be. No name or letters to mix about into some order to identify herself. Just a pulse. Magic that felt like melting ice. There was nothing else but that pulse.  
  
"W-who are you?" Toratsuki stepped back in confusion.  
  
"My identity has no relevance to you any longer."  
  
Toratsuki's eyes went wide and she let the air escape her lungs.  
  
"I see you don't remember me or who you are. Let me enlighten the situation. Clow created the Clow cards and their guardians. When he finished there was a lot of magic left over. From that he created you."  
  
"W-what?"  
  
"Toratsuki...was created from Yue and Keroberos?"  
  
"No wonder I was drawn to her." Kero mumbled.  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
"I'm saying that you were created from all the useless, leftover magic. You are Clow's creation."  
  
"I am not! I don't even know you!"  
  
"I know my work. Like an artist I can see my own creations and pick them out of a crowd. I created you when I was known as Clow Reed and despite the fact that your true form is still hidden, I can see you for what you are."  
  
"THIS IS MY TRUE FORM!"  
  
"No, it isn't. You haven't had time to branch out into your true self yet, and therefore you remain in a transition."  
  
"So you're saying Toratsuki is like Yue and Kero?" Sakura asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then.... what's she hare for? I mean, Kero and Yue are the guardians of the Clow cards, so what's Toratsuki for?"  
  
"Nothing really."  
  
Everyone: --U  
  
"S-so that's it then. I have no use. Even if I was created by Clow...!"  
  
"Do you remember your dreams?" Eriol butted in.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Those were images of your past. As soon as you break the seal holding your true form at bay then the memories will come back to you."  
  
Sakura walked over to the shorter girl. Putting a hand on her shoulder she sighed.  
  
"This city will stay in darkness unless I break the spell. Please...help us."  
  
"I have no use. There would be nothing I could do...I'd only be in the way."  
  
"Please. Help us."  
  
Toratsuki looked over at Toya.  
  
"He promised to protect me...so I...will protect him. I will protect Sakura- sama's brother. That is what I will do. That will be my use."  
  
Li rolled his eyes. "You can't just appoint yourself to a use, only your master can do that!"  
  
Toratsuki felt momentarily stupid.  
  
"It's okay," Sakura tried to hurry things along, "I suppose because I'm your master I have to give you the task. So...um...for now...please protect Tomoyo and Toya."  
  
Nodding Toratsuki stepped forward and she herself returned to the form of her seal. The symbol was a crescent moon overlapping a radiant sun. The symbol cracked down the center and there was a blast of magic.  
  
Toratsuki began to change.  
  
Himuri walked up the steps just in the nick of time to witness her friend's change. The magical blast shook her but she refused to fall.  
  
Translucent wings surrounded the girl. Feathers drifted off of the wings and the white, soft down floated to the ground. A metal, v-shaped plate covered her forehead like Keroberos's. Her tail remained the same except a ribbon was tied to the end with a bell in the center. Long yellow and white robes surrounded the girl's body to symbolize both sun and moon. Her ears remained the same but her hair that was musty brown went shot white. Pretty chibi-like boots covered her feet. On the right was a sun and on the left was a moon. Toratsuki emerged from the feathers completely changed.  
  
"So...this is me?"  
  
"Yes. And I suppose that while I'm here I should give you a false form too- ."  
  
"TORATSUKI!" Himuri ran to her.  
  
"W-who?"  
  
Yue sighed and lifted the spell silently without error.  
  
"Himuri! What are you doing here?"  
  
"I couldn't...I'm sorry...I-I can't say this without being sappy. It' would sound too much like my romance novels." She wept.  
  
Tears filled Toratsuki's eyes. All her memories of her life, and her real life, came back.  
  
"You recognize me? Even after I changed?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"We don't have much time, Sakura." Li reminded.  
  
Damn.  
  
He was right.  
  
Taking out the Light card, Sakura attempted to transform it...but failed.  
  
"W-what's wrong? WHY WON'T IT WORK!?"  
  
Time was running out! 


	21. Thee

And all I can say for you, my love, is that I wish nothing more then to be in your arms.  
  
Sakura fell to her knees defeated. The cards wouldn't change, the spell couldn't be broken, the town was doomed...and there was nothing she could do.  
  
"Sakura!" Li ran to her. He hated to see her like this. It hurt him as much as it hurt her.  
  
Kero and Yue made their way over to their mistress to comfort her away from the tears that now brimmed in her weary eyes.  
  
"I can't change them! They won't change for me." The master of the cards wept.  
  
"There...there is a way. To change the cards, I mean." Keroberos said so solemnly it nearly didn't fit him. The deep frown that lined his face was unbecoming of him and it made Sakura feel uneasy yet slightly optimistic.  
  
"How?" Hope returned to her eyes only to disappear again.  
  
"We, Yue and I, must go inside the staff and aid you. But you must know that, if you fail, we will stay inside the staff for all eternity."  
  
"THAT'S NO GOOD ETHER!" Sakura allowed a new flood of tears to great her eyes with their prickly pins and needles.  
  
Yue put a hand to her cheek and smiled. She had not seen him smile this softly before but she knew that he must have for her brother when he gave his magic to him and to Toratsuki when she was young. Perhaps even now-she didn't know for sure.  
  
"You must take this risk. Everyone here is depending on you." Yue let himself console the girl. Although he felt that Yukito would have been much better at it he decided that this was only a job he was able to do at the moment.  
  
"Do not hurt for us." Kero assured her wit his deep gravely voice that could only have been possessed by a lion.  
  
Nodding, Sakura ran her fingers lightly through the sun guardian's fur. Then, for a moment, remembered her classmate.  
  
"What about you?" She asked turning to Toratsuki who was still standing beside Himuri.  
  
"I suppose I'll need to go too." The child looked nervous, and Sakura was sure that if she had had wings like Yue and Kero that they would have drooped a little in hesitation.  
  
Himuri didn't like the sound of that for an instant.  
  
"You can't! You've not got any magic any more!"  
  
It was then Toratsuki realized and awoke her senses to the tingling of burning ash that was her friend's pulse. It hurt her to reach out to it and she recoiled a bit from shock.  
  
"Where did you get that?" Toratsuki asked hurriedly.  
  
"M-Mr.Himino gave his power to me."  
  
It's poison.  
  
Her mind rang with those words.  
  
It will kill her soon.  
  
Whipping out her palm she tried to drain the magic from her friend. The girl slumped to the ground. Without the life-stealing magic coursing through her veins she was powerless against the spell that Eriol had cast.  
  
"Y-Yue-sama I don't know how to go inside the staff." Toratsuki who had trotted up to the group began to sway sheepishly side to side in shame of her ignorance. Her face went a little red. How could she not know this? Yue and Keroberos must know so why didn't she?  
  
"How pathetic! Eriol, are you sure that Clow made this creature?" Ruby mocked. The girl didn't have any real 'powers' like Yue and Keroberos. She could only sense magic and take and give magic but all of the guardians could do that. Clow had given her no real purpose like he had Yue and Kero.  
  
"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Sakura snapped. Everyone looked at her in a surprised manor. Tears were still streaming from her eyes, but she looked angry. She felt badly for Toratsuki. This was HER third guardian! No one was going to make her feel badly for herself.  
  
Yue knelt down and lifted Toratsuki into his arms.  
  
"Stay with me and I will show you how." He said in his usual voice of calm. There was no time to argue or protest, Sakura knew this as she looked upon her beasts with fond yet sad eyes. She hated to do this...but there was no other way...and time..., as it always seems to be, was against them.  
  
A mist filled the air as the three beings began to...how should I say it...I wonder...? Almost...Liquefy into ribbons of magic and they all spiraled into the staff making the light from it grow brighter. The wings on the wand grew more lavishing and their plume as bright as the dawning sun! The staff itself grew to be twice as high as its mistress. The light grew and grew until the cards themselves rose into the air and floated around their mistress. All of them glowing, lending their strength to Sakura, The Light and The Dark card rose up from the ground where they lay and soon began to change.  
  
Li ran to her side.  
  
"I believe in you." He whispered in her ear softly as he stood behind her bracing her for the sudden use of magic. Lending her his strength, the boy allowed himself to relax and be one with the flowing magic of the Card Mistress.  
  
The Light and The Dark burst forth. Light ripped through the sky like a torrent of brilliance that can only be described as brighter then the sun and yet as blinding as anything that should be so bright.  
  
The sun came out and dazzled the sky with all its glory. Sakura smiled as tears fell from her green eyes.  
  
"Now, Sakura...the sun-naturally-has already set..." Eriol said.  
  
Nodding in response the Dark flew over the sky blanketing the town in its lovely veil of darkness. The stars shone through and a gorgeous full moon sent its timid beams through the cutting nights' sky.  
  
With their tasks done the final two cards, Light and Dark, returned to their card form and joined the others as they floated around their child- mistress.  
  
"Thank you." Eriol said fondly.  
  
Keroberos, Yue and-in his arms- Toratsuki reemerged from the staff and the wand changed back to its normal self.  
  
The girl ran at her guardians and hugged them all tightly in her arms.  
  
"Thank you all." She said.  
  
Toratsuki brushed a pale silver strand of hair from her brow and smiled sheepishly. Yue nodded to his mistress and Keroberos purred as she stroked his soft fur.  
  
Eriol came down and walked toward the foursome. In tow, Ruby and Spinal, trotted behind him.  
  
Immediately Kero and Yue put themselves between Sakura. Toratsuki stood beside her mistress so that she could keep her safe.  
  
"Now, now. The test is over. There is no longer a need to be angry."  
  
"You've got some explaining to do, Clow! Why did you put Sakura in danger? Why did you do all of this? Why didn't you tell us of Toratsuki? Why?"  
  
So many 'whys' and not enough answers for them all.  
  
Ever smiling, Eriol walked forward and nodded.  
  
"Firstly, everyone here will wake soon. We should most likely get away from here before they do. However there is one thing I had hopped to clear up before all of this ends."  
  
"What? I don't understand." Sakura said.  
  
"I know..."  
  
"Sakura?"  
  
HIM!  
  
Toratsuki was taken back at the voice that she nearly didn't expect to hear. Her sickness came back and she whipped around to vomit away from everyone else.  
  
"I see that my spilt self is still making you nauseous. Are you still that confused...Toratsuki? Confused enough to be sick to your stomach?"  
  
Wiping the vomit from her mouth the girl gagged and threw up again.  
  
Eriol walked over and put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"It would seem that you...are still uneasy with the thoughts that Clow's soul was spilt in two."  
  
"What?"  
  
Sakura thought her ears had betrayed her. 'Split in two'? That was what Eriol had said...was it not?  
  
"Let me enlighten you. When Clow was dieing he spilt his soul into two separate bodies. Fujitaka Kinomoto was one and I was the other. However, I inherited all the memories and magic."  
  
Another round of gagging and a few bouts of vomit took the girl and Eriol stood beside the child and tried to comfort her. 


	22. Stand

Chapter 22: Stand  
  
"...So don't ever, don't ever, don't forget that I never ever meant to break your heart! All I ever wanted was to stand beside you, survivors in the night..." Phil Collins – Survivors in the night (?)  
  
"There's no need to be sick..." Again, instead of her real name Eriol sent out her pulse as her calling and the girl got shakily to her feet.  
  
Sakura was still trying to hide the fact that she was carrying a staff in the park at such a late hour of the night. Turning to the girl, Eriol smiled.  
  
"There is one more thing I can think to ask you at this time, Sakura."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Could you please recite this spell so that I can fulfill Clow's final wish?"  
  
Thinking a moment, Sakura nodded shyly.  
  
"Split in two..." Eriol began.  
  
"Split in two..." Sakura mimicked.  
  
"Be reborn in your eyes..."  
  
"Be reborn in your eyes..."  
  
"Show unto me love and compassion..."  
  
"Show unto me love and compassion..."  
  
Suddenly the spell came to her as though she had known it always.  
  
"Come to me hardship, come to me love. Come to me laughter, come to me hate. All of you feeding from my tears; take what was meant and what it is to make a tomorrow for us all. Clow Reed, be reborn into your eyes."  
  
Blasting light illuminated the thick darkness as a great beam of brilliance shot out of Eriol. The boy seemed to rise a bit off the dusty ground as the radiance began to tremor around him. The light snaked its blind way around to Fujitaka and then entered his body. Filling his eyes, his ears, his nostrils and his mouth with its sweet aurora.  
  
And...  
  
As quickly as it came...  
  
The light subsided.  
  
Fujitaka slumped to the ground in a deep sleep.  
  
"What happened to him?" Ceroberos wasn't quite sure he wanted to know, but now was not the time to be hesitant.  
  
"Clow's final-my final- wish. I am no longer the strongest magician in the world. Kinomoto Fujitaka has taken a portion of my power. A quarter of my magical strength now rests inside him. And...now that that is over...I need to be rid of the remanding quarter of power that I might be only at half of what I was."  
  
Walking over to Touya's limp form he looked the boy over.  
  
"You were very brave, Kinomoto-san. For that...I intend a part of the remaining magic to be yours. Toratsuki...I will need you for this."  
  
The child, who still looked a little sickly, seemed shocked to be involved with any such task. But, nodding almost puppet-like, she walked over to Eriol's side.  
  
"Why me?"  
  
"I can't just transfer live magic."  
  
"Touya did."  
  
"Yes, but his wasn't active and you're the only one that knows the words to summon it out of me. So that is why we need you here."  
  
The girl looked surprised at the logic that counted her into something and that she was being useful for a greater purpose.  
  
Eriol slipped a hand to Touya's neck and searched gingerly for a pulse. Finding it, he smiled and nodded his ready, the boy awaited Toratsuki's words.  
  
Bring forth your mighty banner So unto you, I give my heart. My soul cries out to you And to thee I cast my heart  
  
The soft light formed into feathers and drifted onto Touya. The illuminated down melted into the boy's skin and was gone. Taking his fingers away from the older boy's neck, he looked over at Toratsuki.  
  
"One last thing before I answer questions. You'll need a false form. you help me re-design the image that your guardian had before giving away her power?"  
  
"Alright." Sakura said and raised her wand high with both hands tight on the staff.  
  
"Again, Toratsuki."  
  
Bring forth your mighty banner So unto you, I give my heart. My soul cries out to you And to thee I cast my heart  
  
This time, magic from both precipitants formed a cocoon beside the singing child. The ball of power swished and sighed as it took shape. Slowly, the cocoon formed wings and opened itself to reveal a girl a little shorter then Sakura. Her musty brown hair was tossed in the stroking breeze of power. Her eyes were closed, and as the magic ebbed away the girl was left standing in the dark night in the school uniform of Sakura's public school.  
  
Edging her eyes open, the false form looked at Toratsuki. Her eyes were as blue as ice and they reflected imposing confusion. Without a word the false form stepped, literally, into Toratsuki and vanished.  
  
"There. Now you can live outside the house as much as inside."  
  
Li was looking impulsive and restless. The look seemed to have seeped into everyone and had scribbled itself over all their faces. There was silence amongst all and it was then that Eriol's smile seemed almost nauseating.  
  
"Come to my house, everyone. I will answer everything there."  
  
Sakura, with the help of Li, managed to get Tomoyo halfway to Eriol's house before she woke up. Touya was fast asleep and Yue had to carry him. Ceroberos needed to revert silently back to his false form so that no one who may have awoken would see him. Yue himself had to hide his wings, but for the most part everyone was dressed in their battle outfits so perhaps someone would dismiss it as a few kids going to a costume party.  
  
Tora-chan: Yeah right.  
  
Readers: shhhhh!  
  
Tora-chan: sorry. u  
  
Toratsuki was prompted to return to her own false form to help keep suspicions low. Akizuki carried Fujitaka despite her insistence that she should carry Touya instead. Spinal had also returned to his false form. Himuri was carried by Toratsuki who wasn't used to carrying people and so every now and then Li gave her a hand because he was physically stronger then her.  
  
The door had been left unlocked for who would have been awake to take anything from the house. Touya, Sakura's father and Himuri were all put in a spare bedroom. Toratsuki had to make up a spare bed for Himuri because there were only two beds there and both were designed for only one person to fit. That and Sakura doubted Himuri would enjoy waking up to find herself in a bed with a strange man or a teenager twice her age.  
  
"So now...I suppose there are some things I should clear up."  
  
Yue sat in an armchair with Toratsuki on his lap. His long, white hair draped over the side so that it touched the floor beneath him. Kero sat with Sakura who was with Tomoyo and Li on a couch. They all were still taking in the sights from around the room. Akizuki stood by Eriol smiling in a sweet way, her eyes, narrowed in a laughing way. Spinal sat around on Eriol's lap and glared at Kero.  
  
"I suppose you have more questions for me?" Eriol looked at Toratsuki who couldn't bear to look him in the eye.  
  
"I can't even remember any of this." The girl looked at her feet because it seemed to be much easier then looking at the boy.  
  
"That will come back to you soon enough. While you wait for your memories to return to you, I suppose Keroberos and Yue have been waiting long enough."  
  
"Clow Reed died a very long time ago...why, if he had intended Sakura to be the rightful guardian of the Clow, did you cause all this trouble for her?"  
  
Nodding as though he thought the question was justified, Eriol smiled as he always did.  
  
"Yes, Keroberos, it does seem unfair of me to put you all under such pressure. However, Clow is dead...there would soon be nothing for the cards to use to power them, now that Sakura is their mistress they needed to feed off of her magic. The cards needed to be changed to take in her magic, and without a physical need, there was no way the Clow Cards could switch. It wasn't easy for me, by any means, but sometimes the things you have to do are not always the things you want."  
  
Yue got up and took the child off his lap. Setting her down on the chair, he turned silently to leave without a word.  
  
"Yue..." Sakura said as the moon guardian closed the door to the hallway behind him.  
  
"L-let him go." Toratsuki mumbled.  
  
"I see you're beginning to recall a little of your past."  
  
"A little."  
  
"Would you like to share with us?" Eriol could tell that the others were a bit curious.  
  
The little girl poked her head into the room. Yue and Kero were gone. They had both been sealed into the Clow book and now, their master was sitting himself down in his armchair, almost painfully.  
  
"C-Clow-sama? Where's Yue?" The little creature walked over and leaned on the arm of the chair to lift herself off the ground. She was so short, that her feet swayed as she held onto the arm of the chair.  
  
"Yue and Ceroberos are both going to sleep for some time."  
  
The girl looked sad. Her ears drooped and her tail sagged to the ground.  
  
"Why? Are you going away, master?"  
  
Clow looked down at the girl. "Yes, I'm going to go very far away. Do you remember how I told you and Yue and Ceroberos that all living thing must one day die?"  
  
Nodding, the child waited for Clow to finish.  
  
"Well, now is my time. I will die very, very soon."  
  
"Clow-sama...where will we go once you're gone?"  
  
"Yue and Ceroberos will choose a new master. Treat your new master well, child."  
  
"Clow-sama...I-I want to stay here with you! I don't want a new master! You're the only master I need!" The little girl wept a little. She didn't understand death, and she most likely never would. But Clow Reed was mortal, and like all things, had a beginning and an end.  
  
The man smiled. He was thin with death and looked pale in the light from the window. Snow flecks fell heavily outside the window. The creature would usually have dragged Yue out to watch the snowfall, but not now.  
  
"Stay with me...before I seal you away..."  
  
The girl nodded and waited with her master.  
  
It was midnight before he spoke to her again.  
  
"Tell me, child. W-what...is...the most beautiful thing in the world?"  
  
"Snowflakes...raindrops..."  
  
But it was too late to finish. Clow began to seal her away.  
  
"I suppose...I should give you a name-."  
  
With that they were gone.  
  
Toratsuki was sealed away into the house to wait for her awakening.  
  
"Not bad for the first bit. Do you remember when you woke up inside the house?"  
  
"Yes. There was no one there. I left to find Clow-sama, but I was attacked by men."  
  
"I had meant for you to have fully broken the seal when you woke, but for some reason...you didn't." Eriol mused slightly as Sakura and Li watched him from where they sat.  
  
"Why didn't you remember us when Yue found you?" Kero asked.  
  
"I got hit in the head I suppose. I forgot about Clow and Yue and you...and the cards. I forgot everything...even about my real form."  
  
"I hadn't expected you to go looking for Clow." Eriol sighed as if to say 'I'm sorry'.  
  
"If she had remembered about the cards...what would she have done?" Li asked as he straightened up.  
  
"Well, she would have traveled with Yue's false form to live with him and wait with him for the final judgment. As for the final test itself, there was nothing she could do to decide the new master. Toratsuki's role was to help the master with everyday tasks and basically to help serve, nothing more."  
  
"So...she gets to stand by as her master or mistress is chosen?"  
  
"I trust Yue-sama's judgment." Toratsuki cut in sharply.  
  
"By the way, you can stop calling Yue 'Yue-sama', Sakura's the mistress of the cards, she's your mistress now." Spinal added.  
  
Toratsuki shot him a sleekly, wicked look that shut him up fast.  
  
"It's okay. Whatever makes you comfortable." Sakura tried to break the two up so that they could get a few more answers.  
  
"Really?" Toratsuki turned happily to Sakura and smiled.  
  
"Y-yeah, I don't really want to be your mistress...I just want to be your friend."  
  
"Thanks." Toratsuki bowed lightly to her mistress. 


	23. I

Chapter 23: I...

"I wanted to be like you/ I wanted everything/ so I tried to be like you/ and I got swept away/ I didn't know that/ it was so cold and/ you needed someone to show you the way/ So I took your hand and/ we figured out that/ when the time comes I'd take you away/ If you want to/ I can save you/ I can take you away from here/ so lonely inside/ so busy out there/ and all you wanted was somebody who cares..." All you wanted. (I don't know who wrote this)

Yue sat outside. He wasn't in any mood to speak with anyone and he was in no mood to allow his false form to wander about. Not when he was so frustrated.

"...Clow..."

Yue knew Eriol was there before he heard him. His pulse drifted lightly through the air as though it were a lost sigh; detached from its sender.

"I'm sorry. You must still have many undecided feelings about Clow's death."

Yue said nothing.

"Why? If you knew you'd come back, then why make us look for another master?"

Eriol smiled a little and sat down beside Yue.

"I will never BE Clow Reed. I'm only a part of him brought back to this world. Once something is gone, it's gone for good."

Yue didn't look at the boy. He didn't look at him at all.

"Do you hate Sakura for this?"

"No...I don't hate her."

"Good then. It would seem that Toratsuki and Keroberos are both happy with Sakura as their mistress, so I suppose it will be alright if I leave you all here."

Yue didn't say a thing but eventually mumbled, "Where are you going?"

"Back to England, I have more things to do there and it is my home."

The guardian of the moon silently understood. "Toratsuki will remember everything now...so why don't I remember having her around?"

"I'm not sure. There are some things even I cannot explain. It took Clow two years to create her and therefore she is only two years younger then you and Ceroberos. Now...I need to go and pack my belongings so that Ruby, Spinal and I can return home soon. Take care of Sakura and Toratsuki for us."

Turning to leave Eriol remembered something and then turned on his heel, "Oh, and Yue?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for giving her a name. Clow meant to do that before he died, but not everything goes according to plan." With that last note, Yue was alone. Frustrated, sad and, yes, even a little bit angry, the moon guardian sat out in the garden looking at the flowers. How he would have loved to open his wings and fly away from all his problems and all the things that hurt him.

'But that is still hiding in the end.'

Damn her for being right.

Damn life for being difficult to him.

Damn his spirit for still holding onto the pain of loosing his master.

Another pulse entered the garden. A soft 'smell' of peaches trickled its way into the magical spectrum. Sighing, Touya sat down. In a way, Yue hated him for intruding on his solitude. But the boy said nothing. He just sat beside Yue and stayed quiet as though he felt the frustration that swelled around him.

Thank you.

That day, Yukito walked into the house with Toratsuki, in her false form, following at his heels.

"Eriol's gone home now?" She asked.

"Yeah, He figured Sakura could handle everything from here on." Yuki informed her as they both sat down in the living room.

"So...you're not my brother...I was made by the same man Yue and Kero were...and I have no idea what else to think."

Yukito sighed and put his arms around her. "It's okay. I felt like I was living a lie when Touya told me that I wasn't human...what you feel is natural. As for us being related...you and I may not be blood...but that doesn't matter. You're still a part of this and a part of us all, Kero, Sakura and Yue, I mean. You can stay here as long as you want. I want you to stay here with us all and give us a hand, is that okay?"

Looking up, Toratsuki looked into the eyes of the person she had, for o long, thought to be her brother. Yukito's coffee brown eyes were soft and warm, and the girl felt safe when she thought of the opportunity to stay with him.

"Okay. I'll stay here and live with you, if you don't mind my intruding." She added. No need to invite herself.

"You were created from the guardians and the Clow cards...and Yue and I own this house so you really don't need to ask to stay."

"Do you...mind if I live here with you?"

"Not at all, You can stay as long as you want. This place gets really empty without anyone else to talk to. I've liked having your company." Yuki said honestly.

Thank you.

The alarm clock rang fiercely causing Toratsuki to leap, not only out of her comfortable dreams, but her skin to boot. Monday had rolled along quickly and, as the girl forced her school uniform on, she thought that she might actually ENJOY taking down the board note! Yuki let TsuTsu ride on the back of his bike with him until they saved enough cash between them to buy her a bike of her own.

"Morning!"

"Good morning, Sakura-chan."

"Hi Touya!"

The boy rode up on his bide and smiled at his best friend and the little girl riding on the back of the bike. Sakura was wearing her roller blades. She smiled at her classmate and her moon guardian's false form.

"Are you ready for today's math test?" Sakura asked.

"Yuki helped me with studying but I'm still nervous. I'm not good at math at all."

"You'll do fine." Yukito smiled.

Sakura wasn't so sure of that, but she smiled anyhow. Toratsuki really did suck at math and it seemed like all the preparation in the world would do no good. Still, she hoped the best for her third guardian. It was strange...Toratsuki looked only ten and sometimes acted three, but she was really two years younger then Yue. Sakura shook the thought violently from her mind. She herself was a little anxious about the test and thought that maybe she wasn't quite ready.

It had been a week since Eriol had left them, and now the end of the school year was coming. Sakura couldn't wait to be out of the busy schedule of the regular days and into the lull-about flexibility of the break. As Yukito and Touya both parted with the younger girls, Sakura continued to ponder over the nagging thoughts of the test and the last remaining days of school.

That afternoon, Sakura had been stayed late. Seeing that it was time to go home, she began to walk away from the school.

"S-Sakura-chan!"

Turning slightly to see Li trotting up to meet her.

"Syaoran-kun?"

"I have something to tell you." The boy stared at her so intensely that she barely noticed he was blushing. Waiting for the news, Sakura almost held her bated breath tight within her chest. Bound like a bird to a stone.

"I –Sakura I...I'm going back to China."

The words cut into her. The hurt so much...why did they hurt her so?

"Y-your going back?"

"Yes."


	24. Thanks

Chapter 24: Thanks

'Fare thee well/ My one true love/ so long for a while/ I'm going away/ but I'll be back/ though I walk ten thousand miles/' I haven't got a clue who wrote that or what it's called. It was on the movie 'Fly Away Home' but that's all I know.

Sakura had looked down that night. Touya, now awake and with all the magic he had started out with, had been keeping a close magical eye on Sakura's aura. Once her happy cherry blossoms had been bright and welcoming...and now they seemed...sad...no, that wasn't it at all. They were still happy, but just not as...they usually were.

Toratsuki sat at the table, eating some of the oni-giri that had been made earlier that day. Licking stray bits of rice from her fingers she smiled. Even her aura seemed thick and troubled. Thick like a wool blanket covering the child and hiding herself from all that really was...Touya had guessed it was because of the new girl that had arrived. He had heard her coming...he had heard everything. Now the child slept deeply in the spare bedroom. Fujitaka was also still asleep, but Touya knew his father would be all right; it was the girl he was worried for. She had been badly hurt by the magic given to her.

"So, let me get this straight. YOU'RE supposed to be watching out for ME?" Breaking the silence like a sledgehammer to the most fragile glass...like the glass surrounding the heart.

"Yup." The little girl grinned as she bit into the next rice ball. She really wasn't listening, as she was far too distracted. Touya took the oni-giri from the girl's hand so that she was forced to listen to him. When she looked sadly at him for taking her food, he grinned slyly. This kid was almost as fun to tease as the squirt.

"Touya! Don't tease Toratsuki-chan like that."

Speak of the devil.

Sakura snatched the half eaten rice ball from her brother's hand and gave it back to the little girl across the table.

"So, what's this about Yuki's pet being a body guard?" He really didn't like the idea much. He could look after himself.

"Oh, that...uh well, Toratsuki has no real purpose so I figured, because she's with Yukito-san, and he's with you..." With that, she and Tomoyo left the room. Touya sighed and looked over at the little girl who was applying herself to another oni-giri.

"Glad to see you're happy 'bout this." He muttered.

It was nine in the evening when Himuri woke up. For the most part Toratsuki had tried to stay cheerful all week...trying to forget that her friend was sick. Each day she came and each day that week, nothing had happened to change Himuri's situation for good or ill. Now that she was awake things seemed to be going in the right direction for her.

Toratsuki walked into the room with Sakura, Yukito and Kero.

"Hi." The little girl tried to get up, but didn't have the strength.

"D-do you remember the drawing I showed you...of the boy in my dreams?"

"Yes..."

"This is him. He's not really my brother...but in a way he is." She smiled weakly; trying to pretend all was well again.

"Hi, I'm Yukito Tsukishirou." Yuki bowed to the girl and put his hand on Toratsuki's shoulder. "Is it okay if we leave you here for a while?"

"Before we do...I want to have a look at Toratsuki's friend." Kero cut in, in a very vexing tone. Letting himself fly over to the girl in the bed, he closed his eyes and focused. A moment passed and he re-opened his eyes.

"Well...I would say there's good news and bad...but there's not much good news."

"What? What's wrong?" Sakura and Toratsuki asked.

"Well...to explain this right I'll need to tell you about magic itself. You see, when someone gives magic to another person, they need to be sure the magic is compatible. It's like giving blood. If the blood doesn't match it can make you sick and the body rejects it. However...magic is more complicated then blood. In this case, the receiver never had magic to begin with. That's not good. If Himuri had her own magic, maybe things would be different."

"What are you saying?" Toratsuki asked shakily.

"Well, because she had no magic of her own, her body couldn't ward off the poison in the magic given to her. It began to eat away her inside strength, eventually it would've killed her. In this case...Kimutoki-san will never have the use of her legs ever again." Kero said gravely.

There was nothing.

Not a word.

Not a sound.

Not a breath.

Yukito put his hand on Toratsuki's shoulder and then took Sakura and Kero out of the room. There was no need for them all to be there. Not now. The two needed to be alone.

"Toratsuki, I...."

But the girl ran out of the room and out of the Kinomoto house before there could be any words to pass between them.

Touya heard the child leave, and he could feel the sorrow flowing from Toratsuki's form. She was sad...why?

Yukito came down the stairs. He looked very troubled as he walked to the front door and opened it.

"Whoa, where are you going?"

The silver haired boy retold what Ceroberos had said and Touya looked grim.

"I'm going to look for her."

"No, stay here in case she comes back, I'll go."

Yuki would have argued the point further, but there was no need. Touya looked very firm on the topic and there was no changing his mind.

"Alright."

Out into the darkness Toratsuki ran.

"...Kimutoki-san will never have the use of her legs..."

No.

This can't be happening!

This can't be true!

There's got to be some mistake!

There HAS to be a mistake!

Doesn't there?

By now she was in the park. Running through the trees and underbrush. Twigs snapped under foot, and branches reached out in the musty darkness to grab at her, to drag her down.

Then...

She...

Was falling.

A stray tree root had snagged her foot. Damn the luck of it all.

"...Toratsuki. Toratsuki, why are you crying?"

A man in long dark robes stood in the woods behind her. His crescent-moon spectacles glinted a little in the night. His long, black hair was done up so neatly, and his features so soft, it was as though he had come forth from a picture and not real life.

"Toratsuki...why are you sad? You have a name now. A name I couldn't give you. You must hate me for leaving you like that." He said. The ever-soft smile did not fade as he said this.

"N-no. I don't hate you." Still on her hands and knees from the fall, the girl brushed some dirt from her hands.

"Then why are you sad?" The man reached out his hand and softly brushed away the tears that dribbled down her cheeks.

The words flooded over without warning. The man stood listening kindly to each harsh, choppy sentence.

"Toratsuki..."

"TsuTsu!" Touya's voice snapped through Clow's words like a knife.

"Be brave, little one. You can't run from your problems in life...you'll find they follow you no matter where you run..." With that he was gone.

Crouching on the ground, the girl rocked back and forth on her heals. To call out to Touya or not to call out to Touya...a question that she toyed with.

He'll find you anyway. A voice whispered.

And he did. Coming through the woods, Touya walked right into the girl.

"Hey, what are you doing out here? You shouldn't be out here in the dark. A lot of ghosts walk around her at night."

Toratsuki: o.O

"Oh, I guess you have issues with the 'dearly departed' too, huh? No surprise. The squirt does too. She freaks out anytime someone mentions spirits."

Sakura: Ah-choo!

"Why don't you come back to the house with us. Yuki's waiting for you, and Kimutoki-san..."

"SHE'LL NEVER WALK AGAIN! SHE'LL BE STUCK IN A WHEELCHAIR ALL HER LIFE BECAUSE OF ME!" Toratsuki couldn't keep it in any longer.

Touya sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sometimes.... sometimes people sacrifice something so that they can be with the people they care about. Sometimes people choose to give up something, even if it's something that's important to them, so that others can be happy. Those are their personal choices. They make them on their own. It's no ones fault."

"But...if it weren't for me...Himuri-chan..."

"Would probably have come anyway. Things happen for reasons. There are no 'accidents' in life; everything has an explanation. We can't walk through life regretting everything we do...then we'll end up regretting living life that way when it's too late to change."

"Do you regret giving away your power to Yue?" She asked shyly.

"No. There are days I wish there had been a different way to save them both...but there wasn't. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat, if I had to. Some days I wish it hadn't come to that, and I know that being able to see my mother was selfish because Sakura and Dad couldn't." Touya trailed off.

Mother would have wanted it that way. He didn't say this though. Toratsuki wouldn't understand.

"So...you want to come back?"

"So...what are you going to do, now that you've found your friend?" Kero had been left to entertain Himuri until Toratsuki got back.

"As long as I know that everything is okay and that my friend is happy, I'll feel okay about going home."

"What about your folks. It's not like they won't be surprised about you not being able to walk."

"I'll work on that when I get there. I'll prob'ly tell them that I got hit by a car."

"Will they buy it?"

"I dunno. But they're not going to believe the real story."

She had a point. Who would believe it?

Touya walked into the house. Yue was waiting in the hall for them. The moon guardian looked from Touya, who stood just a bit taller then him, and then to Toratsuki, who made them all feel tall.

"Are you feeling better now?" Yue asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk to her?"

"No. Not right now."

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"Yeah...I just don't want to talk right now." With that, Toratsuki left them.

The next day, Touya took Himuri to a clinic so that she could get a wheelchair. Then, her parents were called and informed that their daughter had been in an accident. Of course they freaked out and said that they'd be there as soon as they could. It would take them a day to get there, but Himuri's mother was upset. And as she should be. But Toratsuki hadn't said a word to her friend. She had tried to avoid her so that they didn't need to talk.

Li hadn't been seen at all because he was preparing to go back to China. Sakura herself hadn't had much time to speak with him.

Tora-chan: By the way it's the weekend.

It was decided that it would be better if Himuri were taken to Yukito's house instead. That way when Sakura's father woke up, he wouldn't have to be worried about the new girl in a wheelchair. Sakura herself had taken Tomoyo back to her house. They still had some homework to do. Toratsuki still wasn't speaking with Himuri. She avoided looking at the wheelchair and the young girl in it. As Yukito showed her around the house and told Himuri that she was welcome to help her self to anything in the chock-the-block fridge, Toratsuki sat on the couch.

Finally, Himuri couldn't take the silence any longer. As her Toratsuki walked down the hall, she wheeled in front of the girl. The false form clumsily tripped and fell into Himuri's lap. Surprised and frazzled, Toratsuki fell out of her false form and into her true self.

"What is wrong with you? Why won't you look at me? Did I do something wrong by trying to find you?" Himuri grabbed her friends' arm as the girl tried to get up.

Yukito and Touya came into the hall to see what all the noise was.

"I'm sick of this! You always lock yourself away when something's wrong, why can't you just TELL me why you hate me?"

Yukito could stand by no longer. The white wings shot out from his back and curled around him in a torrent of feathers. When they dropped, Yue allowed his wings to vanish. Himuri, never having seen Yukito change before and not knowing that he WAS Yue to begin with, yelped in surprise. Walking over to the two, the moon guardian separated the two.

"That's enough."

Turning to leave, he grabbed a hold of Touya's arm and dragged him out of the hall so that the two children were alone.

There was silence in that room. A silence that could have killed any other person, but not these two...not now. Now when they stared intensely into one another's face.

"I don't hate you."

The words were so quiet Himuri could have sworn they were never even said at all.

"Then why won't you look at me?"

"I...I can't."

"That's not good enough." She was right.

She's right...

I know she is...

"I...I don't... hate you. That's not it. I could never hate or be angry you. If it's anyone I'm angry with, it's myself."

Himuri pulled up beside her friend. "Himino sensei had said that we should forget that you existed in our lives. Toratsuki-chan...I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that for any of my friends, no mater who they are."

"It would have been better if you had."

"Do you think I regret loosing my legs?"

"...We can't walk through life regretting everything we do...then we'll end up regretting living life that way when it's too late to change."

Kinomoto-kun...

"No." It was the honest truth and that's why it hurt Toratsuki so.

There was a smoothening quiet in the hall. There was nothing left to say. There was nothing left to do. There was nothing left to breath.

Just silence.

Sakura was upstairs in her room. A few tears welled up in her eyes.

Syaoran-kun...

"What's the matter?" Kero floated around her as she tried to sew the ear onto the teddy bear.

"Syaoran-kun is going home to China soon..."

Kero sighed. "I wondered when the kid was going to head home. How come you're so sad...oh, he's your number one, huh?"

Sakura blushed deeply and nodded softly.

"Well...you want to tell him or what?" Kero circled lazily around his mistress.

"I...I don't know if I can."

"Come on, Sakura! You owe it to yourself and to the kid to give him an answer."

"But he's leaving tomorrow and I need to finish this bear."

"Okay. But you've got to tell him before he goes away."

The next day was the one that would take Syaoran away from Sakura. When Yukito came over to her house he brought with him the news that Toratsuki and Himuri were on speaking terms once more and that her family was coming to take the little girl home that evening.

Coming down the stairs quickly, Sakura held the teddy bear under her right arm as she pulled on her roller blades.

"What's up, squirt?" Touya asked.

"Syaoran-kun is leaving today and I need to give this to him before he does!"

"You'll never make it." Touya sighed.

"He's right, Sakura-chan. Even in roller blades, there's not enough time." Yukito confirmed.

A strange sadness filled Sakura's eyes that could have crushed anyone but Touya. Grabbing his motorcycle helmet and roughly pulling on his shoes he tried to look as normal as possible.

"Come on. I'll drive you."

Li sat on the train. Sakura hadn't been there to wish him well and his heart was breaking under the pain. Just as the locomotive lurched forward he heard the voice that he had wanted to hear for all his life.

"Syaoran-kun! Syaoran-kun!" Throwing the window open he leaned out to see Sakura running beside the train. In her outstretched arms was a reddish-brown teddy bear with a green ribbon tied around its neck.

"You're my number one, Syaoran-kun! I love you too!"

The boy caught up the bear in his hands and held it close to him as the train left the station and Sakura behind.

'...I love you too...'

Tora-chan: Hi everyone. Well...this is the third fic I've done up and it's the third to be finished. I hope you liked it despite the spelling errors...u I'm really sorry about that. Anyhow, CCS is one of my favorite manga. I have to say that I think CLAMP outdid themselves on that one. It was gorgeous and the characters were wonderful! If you haven't read the manga, I can assure you that it's worth reading. Well...I g2g. If you enjoyed this fanfic I have three more. All of which are for Beyblade but there will be one for Digimon soon and I hope that if you like Digimon you'll read it over. Thanks for reading my stuff and I hope you liked it. Ja ne (Bows) By the way, Toya's name is spelt Touya...I was reading the CCS manga and it's spelt Toya so if that's been pissing anyone off, sorry.

LOTSHA: there we are all betaed (bows) hope you all enjoyed it


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